Mining industry ramps up air cargo demand

Chapman Freeborn is setting its sights on growing the passenger side of its business in the coming months, having just been named Air Charter Provider of the Year at the Air Cargo Africa 2011 awards in Nairobi. “Cargo is stronger than passenger at the moment,” said Iain Clark, director (Africa) for Chapman Freeborn. “We have found a big upturn in mining as well as the oil and gas industries resulting in strong cargo volumes. We are really driven by cargo in Africa and it is a sector of our business that remains extremely important.” But, he said, having established a Johannesburg office in August last year, it is now time to focus on growing the passenger side of the business. “There is a big market for incentive and executive travel in Africa and we believe we are at the point where we can capitalise on that and strengthen our market position.” According to Clark this will, however, not affect the company’s cargo business. Specialising in moving project cargo across Africa, including heavy and outsize equipment for energy and mining projects, the company is heavily involved in moving cargo across the continent as well as into Africa. “We manage thousands of cargo charters globally with a substantial percentage falling under the category of military/government or humanitarian-based operations.” Having undertaken a flight to Libya to fetch South Africans from the country where a civil war continues to rage, the company has also made several flights into Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. From Sudan to the Ivory Coast to Somalia there is no destination to which charters are not offered, he says. “It is why we decided to open offices in Africa to extend our reach. Strategically we opened our first office in Entebbe in Uganda because of the ability to land wide-body freighters there and then utilise narrower aircraft to connect to smaller and more remote airstrips across Africa. As we saw more commercial business we made the decision to extend our African reach and open the Johannesburg office.” According to Clark the decision has paid off handsomely, with more clients coming on board as there is a definite sense of comfort working with an organisation that has the right people on the ground in the right place to do the job. “It also allows us to expand our strategy and focus on passengers in the coming months.”