Against a background of airfreight growth in Africa, South African Airways Cargo (SAA Cargo) is extending its footprint on the continent with enhanced product offerings and additional rotations. “We have recently enhanced our courier product offering while we have introduced additional rotations to our current passenger destinations as part of our growth strategy into Africa,” said Ronel Rossouw, national sales manager: SAA Cargo. “We want to ensure that our customers have access to the Central and East African markets. We are also in the process of identifying new strategic hubs.” She said the airline was optimistic about a continued upward growth trend in the years ahead. “Our freighter network into Africa is expanding rapidly. We have increased schedules to Lusaka, Harare, Maputo, Entebbe, and Dar es Salaam, with ad hoc schedules into Windhoek and Lilongwe, Malawi for some larger consignments we receive on an ad hoc basis,” said Rossouw. “We are now also offering a wider product choice on our regional services, using a combination of freighters and wide body passenger flights. “Africa is a developing continent and thus the demand for various commodities is on the rise. Our network as SAA Cargo puts us in a favourable position for freight destined for Africa and the rest of the world.” But, she warned, as certain commodities are still not allowed in some countries clients must consult the Iata imports manual as often cargo is received that cannot move to a specific country. “Also customs regulations are strict in Africa and should always be adhered to,” said Rossouw. She said Africa still faced some serious challenges, particularly in the airfreight sector where the lack of infrastructure development in some instances had impacted negatively on the cargo business. “The challenges remain the lack of facilities to support cargo operations – like lack of ground handling equipment and X-ray screening equipment for security and the regulatory compliance issues. The lack of operational support equipment forces reliance on manual interventions to support cargo operations. The other challenge is the language barrier, especially in Francophone countries.” Despite this the industry is poised for further growth, said Rossouw. “Africa as a continent offers growth opportunities to investors in commercial farming, mining, oil extraction, pharmaceutical companies, telecoms and automobiles. Therefore there is high demand for airfreight. We have already seen this in an increase in volumes into Africa, especially in products such as perishables, pharmaceuticals and electronics.” CAPTION Ronel Rossouw ... ‘Growing volumes of perishables, pharmaceuticals and electronics moving into Africa.’
