Perishables fly high in difficult airfreight market

In the aftermath of the worldwide recession and the strong rand, it has not been a good time for airfreight exports, according to Martin Upton, Western Cape area sales manager for the SAA cargo division. “The market in Cape Town hasn’t grown in the last six months or so,” he told FTW. “It’s very much an agricultural market, and seasonal, and the strong rand has been badly affecting these perishable shippers. “Also, a lot of the fruit which is normally an airfreight product, has been using seafreight instead.” But there is still a big perishable airfreight market in the Western Cape. “The typical products are the stone fruit and grapes in the summer for Europe,” said Upton. “There is also a lot of fish for Europe. “Added to that is a lot of seafood, especially lobsters, for the Far East.” It also does a big business in auto parts for Europe. However, SAA has also noted that the textile airfreight market is now a bit of a no-no. “The textile industry has really scaled down in recent times,” Upton added. “We used to be heavily into clothing transport, but it has died down to a large degree.” But SAA is looking strongly at new destinations into Africa, and sees it as an encouraging new means of utilising its freighter fleet of three Boeing 737(F) aircraft. “Africa is a growth market,” said Upton, “and an obvious focus for our cargo section.” Although SAA still operates a direct daily service between Cape Town and London, it no longer has any other direct flights to foreign destinations. But the airline is looking at instituting services direct to Beijing in China before year-end, according to Upton. While it’s flying out of Johannesburg,” he said, “it will still give the Cape a useful connection via OR Tambo International Airport to a major new marketplace for SA traders.” The airline has also just got the ecoefficiency of a new aircraft model joining its fleet, according to Upton, with SAA having become the latest operator of the Airbus A330 family. It has just taken delivery of an A330- 200 – the first of six to be leased to the national carrier – and the aircraft will be used primarily on long-haul routes from the airline’s bases in Cape Town and Johannesburg, he said. “The new A330 will join our existing Airbus fleet of 11 A319s, 14 A340-200/300s and nine A340-600s.”