Air Menzies International (AMI) recently expanded its perishable capacity in both its Johannesburg and Cape Town facilities, doubling its cold chain capacity across its South African facilities in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
This significant investment in upgrading and expanding is in direct response to the continued growth of South Africa's fresh-cut flowers, fruit, vegetable and fishing industries, worth around R155.7bn to the South African economy in 2019. “Our perishables business has steadily been increasing year on year, so we felt that this was the right time to invest and enhance our international perishables export service. This increased capacity will help us take on more customers and improve our international perishable export offering, enabling AMI to provide the necessary conditions customers need to access international markets,” said Milton French, AMI vice president for Africa. “The key benefit for our customers is the direct airside access close to where the aircraft are parked in Cape Town and Johannesburg, which will significantly reduce the risks in the cold chain.” The Covid pandemic had caused significant disruption in accessing international markets, said French.
“We could see when the pandemic first started, international airfreight capacity dropped significantly and securing the required space became absolutely critical for producers to get their product to market. The perishable market is extremely demanding, and with products still needing to be shipped during the pandemic we needed to quickly expand our perishable facilities to keep up with demand.”
It was a task made easier by the company’s global network which connects its branches in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, CEO of AMI Jonathan Clark said. “As one of the world’s largest wholesale freight forwarders, AMI continues to invest in infrastructure globally, with South Africa and the perishable market being part of our growth strategy for 2021. We are in the process of appointing a perishable product manager who will oversee the expansion of our perishable business across the African continent.”
