Mauritius creates aviation hub

The Mauritian government is helping the airfreight sector to become more efficient. In his 2014 budget speech, vice prime minister and minister of finance and economic development Xavier Luc Duval told parliament that Airports of Mauritius was expanding its cargo and freeport facilities at the airport for a total investment of Rs525 million (R190 m), to create a 72-hectare airfreight hub. “This project is scheduled for completion in July 2014, and together with the new airport hotel should prepare the ground for the aviation hub,” he said. Extensions to the runway have been completed and a new terminal operated by Aeroports de Paris has increased passenger capacity to 4.5 million travellers a year. Airlines have responded, with daily services linking Mauritius to a number of global destinations according to Mauro De Rose, managing director of Incotrans. The company offers multimodal full container load and groupage air and seafreight services to and from Mauritius. There are daily airfreight and weekly seafreight services. Among the “all types” of freight that are moving are critical medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, crushing machine parts, food flavouring and cosmetics. De Rose sees opportunities for growth in exports out of Mauritius. “Mauritius has developed as a country so much over the years, and with that growth comes so much more opportunity,” he says. In his budget speech Duval announced that government would provide a subsidy of 25% of the freight cost on containers exported to all countries in Africa except South Africa and Madagascar, up to a maximum of US$300 per container. The subsidy supports the country’s “Export to Africa” strategy. The government is also providing a 50% subsidy on the cost of credit guarantee insurance for exports to Africa. Incotrans helps companies wanting to take advantage of these incentives and tailors its services to the needs of individual clients. “We also offer a full range document service from the simple completion of movement documents to letters of credit and certificates which comply with all local and worldwide authorities,” he says.