Moves afoot to address air capacity constraints

Addressing capacity
constraints in the airfreight
sector – especially during the
peak season – remains one
of the biggest challenges in
the Western Cape for neutral
consolidator, CFR Freight.
According to Chilton
Corrigall, CFR Cape Town’s
airfreight branch manager,
import and export volumes
grew significantly during 2016.
“The biggest challenge in
Cape Town is peak season,”
he told FTW. “Capacity
constraints on inbound and
outbound flights limit our
opportunity of uplift and
increase concerns over meeting
delivery deadlines.”
But he said it was clear
that major efforts were under
way to improve and increase
capacity.
Under the auspices of
Wesgro, a dedicated air access
team is working towards
increasing the number of
direct flights to Cape Town as
well as opening up new direct
routes to new markets.
“More international flights
provide more flexibility to
our clients, allowing us to
offer solutions that were not
available in the early part of
2016,” he said.
And there are high hopes of
an increase in volumes in 2017.
“Based on our current
service offering and new
products being launched
during the course of the year,
we are sure we will achieve the
targets we have set,” he said.
“These include the launch
on February 1 of an airfreight
“multi-tool”, WebCargoNet,
that will offer exciting
solutions for CFR and our
clients.
“With the consolidation of
all three of our divisions under
one roof, we have seen vast
growth in export and import
volumes. This is largely due
to infrastructure changes
enabling faster turnaround
time in cargo receipt and
delivery."