SAA Cargo facility must be integrated

Rory Mackey - in discussion with airport stakeholders. THE OVERALL scheme on the Acsa planning boards for a new JIA air freight terminal still needs agreement with a wide variety of potential stakeholders, and Acsa group executive (commercial), Rory Mackey, said they were currently discussing the proposals with the likes of the airlines, freight forwarders and freight handling companies. A major player in the final decision, for example, will be national carrier, SAA. It currently owns its own cargo warehouse and office complex, and the new freight terminal will have to integrate this into the overall development plan. Mackey added that talks with SAA were also part of the current planning phase. But he is enthusiastic about Acsa’s ambitious plan for the freight city at JIA - which is already the trend at other major international airports. At those, the cargo facilities are centralised, cutting back on transport distances between airport users and the aircraft loading/unloading aprons. It also makes for easier administration and, probably more importantly at JIA, better security of the freight premises which, with large numbers of high-value cargoes transiting, are natural targets for criminal syndicates. Also on the plans is the latest in hi-tech information technology (IT) systems - making the idea of such an extensive one-stop-shop that much easier to control, and more user-friendly. No dates for either start of construction or completion nor the expected cost of the freight terminal have yet been made available.