King Shaka Airport answers its critics

While the air cargo terminal at the recently opened King Shaka International Airport (KSIA) in KwaZulu Natal is furnished with all the latest and greatest in equipment and systems, the cargo handling procedures are still being bedded in by the new operations team, according to Mike Stewart, chief operating officer of Worldwide Flight Services South Africa (WFS SA). Trading under the banner of Dube TradePort (DTP), the cargo terminal’s access controls, scanning systems and physical layout are designed with high security in mind. So good, Stewart added, that even Heathrow (London’s main air cargo hub) would be jealous. Indeed, for the operation at KSIA, he told FTW, WFS SA has installed many new security processes, preempting similar security systems being rolled out in other key airports around the world. This includes a newly designed IT system that identifies all of the drivers and vehicles delivering/ collecting cargoes at the terminal. “As part of the new ‘air cargo driver identification system’, we needed to scan pictures, ID details, and proof of which companies employed these drivers, into our software,” said Stewart WFS, which handles all of the international cargo passing through the DTP terminal, utilises new processes and systems like this to ensure full conformity with the new Part 108 air cargo security legislation. “Under part 108, if the cargo is deemed to be ‘known’ then the customer driver delivering the freight has to be security trained,” said Stewart. “But, when we officially opened in May, through the use of our system we found that the vast majority of them were not trained. In fact, approximately 25% of the total export cargo arriving at our doors is deemed to be ‘known’. However at the start of operations in May we identified that over 95% of this cargo was found to be non-compliant under Part 108 and therefore unknown. So almost all of the cargo we handled had to be classified as ‘unknown’, and WFS SA therefore had to screen it. But WFS SA played its own part in this learning curve. “We understood that this could be difficult initially for our freight forwarder customers so we made a commitment to all of the agents that we would screen all of this cargo ‘free-of-charge’ for the first three-months until all their drivers were appropriately trained,” Stewart added. “Here we are just into July, and many of the drivers now comply with the Part 108 training standards and the situation is improving.” Stewart also acknowledged criticism of the DTP terminal expressed to FTW by commentators in the SA airfreight industry. He noted the complaint from one reader who said: “It’s just not as well suited to our airfreight needs as it should be.” Said Stewart: “This cargo terminal was designed and built very much for the future with 21st century equipment and processes in mind, enabling South Africa to raise its standards and compete with the best cargo terminals in the world. “The portion of the cargo terminal now occupied by SAA and Express Air Services (EAS) was originally designed and fitted out as an express terminal. “This made it difficult once the agreement was reached to lease this area to our tenants SAA and EAS who do also handle larger items of general cargo as part of their day to day business. A number of modifications to the cargo terminal had to be made to facilitate the successful relocation of both SAA and EAS into the terminal and of course, some compromises had to be reached “But I’d disagree with the statement that it doesn’t work. We’re making it work. There has been and continues to be a huge amount of co-operation between DTP, WFS SA and all of the tenants within the cargo terminal.” What had been described as “another potential disaster point,” was answered by Ahmed Bassa, project executive (aeronautical) at Dube TradePort. This was that the 16 cargo doors had been equipped with dock levellers that were just too high for the type of trucks used in Durban – mostly bakkies and other small pick-ups. But Dube TradePort and WFS SA reacted as soon as this problem was highlighted, according to Bassa. “We have now bought and installed some mobile dock levellers which will lift cargo consignments from the height of bakkies and small trucks to the level of the cargo docks,” he told FTW. The final comment came from the newly appointed general manager WFS SA for the KSIA operations, Darren Coleman. “We came here both to teach and learn,” he said. “But I’d say we have pretty quickly learned just what we need to do to make this terminal work as it should. “And we do, and will listen to what we are told by all of our customers.”