New JIA cargo facility takes centre stage

Call for stricter ground handling regulations Leonard Neill PLANS FOR A redesigned centralised cargo environment at Johannesburg International Airport (JIA) are now on the table at the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA). This has been on the backburner as the airports authority pressed ahead with the development of world class international and domestic passenger terminals at the airport. Now cargo interests are to receive greater attention. Currently, apart from South African Airways Cargo’s own facility, freight is handled through the Foreign Carriers Cargo Building where many of the operators complain of crammed and outdated facilities. Although individual security measures have been introduced, it is often the centre of criminal activities. At the same time a number of small ‘mushroom’ operations have sprung up in recent times with more being planned by private concerns. To counter this, airport authorities are eager to have all cargo operations centralised in a single new structure to be built within the airport confines. Along with this planning goes a call for all ground handling companies to be accredited and licensed to operate at airports in this country. “There are too many players in the field today who can utilise airport facilities unsupervised,” says Clive Watts, SAA Cargo executive manager national operations. “Ramp handling regulations call for accreditation by both the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and ACSA before licences are granted. The same should apply to handlers as well,” he says. “Instead, it’s a free-for-all out there. It places the security and safety at airports in danger, and the manner of transferring cargo from one airline to another is often questionable under the present circumstances.” Currently there are only two licensed ramp handling operations in this country, those of Swissport and Equity Aviation (formerly Apron Services). Watts accepts that there are more companies in the handling field, but says steps should be taken as soon as possible to have them meet similar licensing requirements.