Economics pushes up demand into Zimbabwe

Airlink International provides reliable overborder capacity ALAN PEAT THERE IS a demand for air cargo space into Zimbabwe, with the country’s airline, Air Zimbabwe, getting its share of this demand, according to Gerd von Mansberg, the founder of Cargo Connection (CC) – specialists in airfreight into both north and southern Africa. “It’s becoming a bit of a backlog,” he told FTW, “with a lot of stuff running short because of the economic situation in that country. “That means that a lot of machinery and spare parts have to be airfreighted into Zimbabwe to meet these urgent demands.” So Air Zimbabwe, which CC represents in SA, has a surprising cargo demand. “We only use the airline for runs into Harare and Bulawayo, because the demand for these two centres is enough to meet the airspace capacity available to the airline,” Von Mansberg said. But CC supplements its airfreight service to Bulawayo as part of its cargo management in overborder destinations for Airlink International. “In this particular context,” he said, “the airline runs a small aircraft daily into Bulawayo. “It’s mostly used by the courier industry and spare parts for repair on the return route, so the plane is generally full.” Von Mansberg also looks after Airlink International cargo services into Zambia – which he describes as being a “reliable supplier” to the burgeoning business in-and-out of the country’s Copper Belt. “We also manage the airline’s flights to-and-from Angola, where the mines use airfreight for both imports and exports. “It’s again a lot of spares and repairs.” Another significant client on the airfreight in Africa offering is Egypt Air, with cargo from SA to Egypt showing a distinct growth at the moment since the Pick ‘n Pay supermarket chain opened up in this North African state. “Locally-manufactured cold store panels are very big there, with other equipment adding to the volumes,” said Von Mansberg. CC also uses the airline for flights for Tripoli, Algiers and Casablanca in Morocco, and to service its Far East markets because of Egypt Air’s good connections. “A good market record of this is fresh flowers into Tokyo, because the airfreight logistics on this time-sensitive product makes quick and reliable connections a vital necessity.” Indeed, Egypt Air gets full marks from this doyen of the air cargo market. “It has 58 global destinations on its schedule, and is an ideal air partner with its service levels and skilful distribution of cargo into Africa and beyond,” he told FTW.