Exports into Africa remains a key area of growth for Groupair as the continent continues to offer opportunities – thanks to ongoing expansion in various sectors and Africa’s growing population. According to operations supervisor Derrick van Niekerk, growth into Africa has been steady over the past 18 months. “Our African air freight exports make up 50% of our business and are a key area of growth for Groupair,” he said. “Many of our customers are looking at Africa with new ventures and expansion, particularly in the mining sector, but there’s also just general growth; these are among the driving factors.” Van Niekerk said the thriving hospitality industry in Africa was increasingly sourcing more products, such as furniture, fittings, general hotel amenities and a wide variety of consumable goods, from South Africa. “Mining equipment and spares are also high up on the list of regular commodities that we move via air freight into the continent,” he said. “In many instances, typical ocean freight cargo is turned into air freight as the transit times by sea are just too long to get the products to the destination.” He said that for less urgent cargo, the trend remained to use the cheapest possible transport option. “Moving it from ocean to air freight has to be justified in these instances. What we have seen is an increase in more sophisticated commodities being moved via air such as flavourings, fragrances and electronic and security systems.” In addition, he said, there was traditional cargo, comprising personal effects; and South African shopping trip cargo, which includes everything from groceries, clothes and electronics to the proverbial kitchen sink. “With growth being reasonably constant in Africa, we look forward to a continued increase in volumes. At the current exchange rates, South African products are good value when buying with strong currencies, and this should boost our exports. “The stabilisation of rates, and even the price reduction on some routes, have also been favourable developments that complement growth. This has come about after several airlines servicing Africa have seen the potential of passenger traffic result not only in an increase in the number of flights, but also in many of these airlines moving to larger aircraft to service the growing demand. This has resulted in more airfreight capacity, but also more frequency.” Asked about challenges, Van Niekerk said that with more countries requiring cargo to be inspected prior to departure, delays were probably the biggest issue. “Inspection agencies need to go through the process of inspecting cargo, which can take time. The cargo is only released for departure once this process is completed.”
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Our African air freight exports make up 50% of our business and are a key area of growth for Groupair – Derrick van Niekerk