Emirates turns the desert green

IF THE grass is greener on the other side, Emirates can provide a simple solution. The Royal Palace in the Middle East state of Abu Dhabi now has more than 4 500 full-sized trees and shrubs growing in its grounds, all flown there from South Africa during the past three months by Emirates. “It’s been a major uplift for us, particularly during the busy summer export season,” says South African cargo manager Kum Naicker. With two flights a day from Johannesburg to Dubai offering a daily capacity of 30 tons, it has been a hectic period for the local Emirates cargo staff. In addition to the trees and shrubs, 800 tons of grass were flown to Dubai from Natal for a cricket field, a golf course and a game farm, all of which are being developed in reclaimed desert surroundings near the city. Twelve of the palm trees, measuring up to 7m each, had to be transported in two charter freighter flights as they were too large to be accommodated in the normal Emirates aircraft cargo holds. Emirates has also introduced a twice-a-week dedicated freighter flight from Dubai to Shanghai in China which is impacting on local business, says Naicker. “It started slowly from our point of view last October, but once its value was seen, particularly among South African importers, with our quick transhipment times in Dubai, they began using the service on a regular basis. Now we have loads of textiles and electronic goods flying in from China. Exports have been on a lower scale from South Africa but they are picking up gradually,” he says. With Emirates increasing most of its international flight schedules, and bringing a number of additional destinations on to its schedules, Naicker is expecting a greater international call for exports and imports moving through the office. An interesting linkup has been the flights from Dubai to Istanbul, which have now been increased from four to five weekly. With Turkish Airlines withdrawing from the South African service, Emirates is taking up a considerable amount of the cargo destined for Istanbul through this transhipment channel. Large-scale developments in both Turkey and neighbouring countries have become a valuable source of export machinery from South Africa. Services from Dubai to London, Munich, Bangkok, Sydney, Karachi and Hong Kong have all increased, while Osaka, Perth, Brisbane and Lagos are now on schedule. Next move, says Naicker, will be the introduction of a Dubai-Moscow service in mid-year, which will be a major attraction to South African exporters involved in development projects in the Russian capital and surrounding regions.