Ghana cargo picks up nicely - Air Zimbabwe flies close to full capacity

ALAN PEAT
THERE HAS been a strong focus at Cargo Connection (CC) in the last two months on developing an airfreight service between Johannesburg and Accra in Ghana.
“We have been vigorously looking for cargo, and it has now begun to pick up nicely,” MD Gerd von Mansberg told FTW.
This followed the November introduction of a twice-a-week service flown by Ghana International Airways using a Boeing 767 – which gives CC a cargo capacity of between 10-12-tonnes a flight.
A lot of the traffic is generated by SA-sourced investments, Von Mansberg added. “Lots of mines, and names like Woolworths and Shoprite are moving into Ghana. There’s also an SA consortium building a new shopping centre near the Accra airport, and we’ve done a lot of work for them already.”
The link with Ghana International also sees CC viewing the Accra airport as a hub – with the airline flying a 6-8-tonne Airbus 320 to serve the surrounding regions.
“There is already a lot of SA interest in Ghana,” said Von Mansberg, “with Ghana being a particularly investment-friendly country for SA businesses.”
SA is also importing quite a bit from Ghana, with an incoming trade mostly in pineapples and other perishable products. “It’s developing quite nicely as a two-way air trade route,” Von Mansberg added.
He also told FTW that Air Zimbabwe – “against all expectations and remembering the crazy exchange rate” – was flying its twice-a-day Johannesburg-Harare flights near to full capacity.
“It is also serving Lubumbashi in the DRC and Lusaka in Zambia for us.”
Von Mansberg is also very happy about Airlink’s busy development of African airfreight routes. “They’re growing in leaps-and-bounds,” he said.
The airline is now flying a Boeing 737 with 4-tonnes freight capacity to Antananarivo in Madagascar, and the same type of aircraft once-a-week to Ndola in Zambia – with the use of smaller aircraft allowing it to offer a daily service to this mining centre.
“Airlink’s objective is to become the prime carrier for the Southern African Development Community (SADC),” Von Mansberg said, “and it is also a preferred bidder for Air Botswana.”
Also adding to CC’s cargo muscle, Airlink is adding new destinations frequently.