Cargo galore for Angola Clive Watts . . . automotive cargo outdoing perishables. THERE IS little likelihood that SAA will utilise its two dedicated freighters for scheduled flights into rapidly developing regions like Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the immediate future. “There are heavy demands for loads to those nations these days,” says SAA Cargo national operations senior manager, Clive Watts. “We’d be happy to carry them. But there are no backloads. Neither of the nations we are talking about, for instance, has the infrastructure at present to get its manufacturing or mining works going. That means there will be a time span before we can look towards loading at that end and bringing back cargo.” It means that freighter use is not a viable proposition for the national carrier at present, particularly as the two small freighters would have to make a stop along the route to refuel, bringing in additional landing costs. While SAA is aware of the demand for urgent goods, especially for Angolan developments, these will have to be accommodated where possible in the cargo holds of their scheduled passenger flights. Export space continues to be in heavy demand on international services, says Watts, where there has been what he describes as a ‘big significant shift’ from perishables to components and spares required by the automotive industry. This is encouraging SAA to investigate the switch from the use of Boeing 747s to the USA towards the introduction of the Airbus A600 on that service. “It’s really doing us wonders on the Far East run,” he says. “We can now uplift 20 tons from Hong Kong, which is a big improvement on the six tons we were loading until recently.” Another aspect of the SAA Cargo service in this country which he is upbeat about is the road service to domestic centres served from Johannesburg. “We’ve kept in tune with overseas developments in this respect and using our own haulage system in this way has been a great assistance to clients in places like East London and Bloemfontein,” he says.
