Runway shutdown delays Cape express freight

Intransigent Acsa won’t budge over deadline ALAN PEAT THE NATIONAL carrier SAA and its largest domestic express customer, Transit Group, have raised a serious objection to the night time shut-down of the runway at Cape Town International Airport by the Airports Company of SA (ACSA). This closure in the early hours of the morning, said Transit’s managing member, Tim Snell, is when the SAA freighters arrive in the mother city – and the landing delay ordered by ACSA till 06:00 has a detrimental impact on the domestic express market, with overflows into the international arena. These repairs, he told FTW, will last for approximately 10 months. “To add to the problem,” said Snell, “it is over the Cape winter months – and, as we all know, the mist, rain and heavy fog over this time are bad enough. “This has been causing major delays for the total courier industry, as it now holds back all the freight to outlying areas, as well as the deadline deliveries that the business market requires.” It has affected 134 of Transit’s customers, according to Snell, most of them courier companies. “We would like to make our complaints heard,” he added, “as we feel that ACSA is not aware of the true impact that this causes the whole of the country.” Meantime, SAA has had meetings with the Airports Company, but has been told that repairs will go ahead as planned - and that 6am landing deadline remains. “We have tried to get ACSA to be more flexible about the runway closure,” SAA executive manager Aletta Hutton told FTW, “but our efforts have failed. “We’ve been fighting alone in this matter, so now our cries to the market are that – instead of mistakenly blaming us for the delays - it should support us in our battle.” The SA Express Parcels Association (SAEPA), meanwhile, has put out feelers to all its members to assess just how big the problem is, according to executive director Garry Marshall. “If serious delays are being caused,” he told FTW, “we would obviously side with SAA and Transit on this issue.