Security gets high profile at Lufthansa facility

Alan Peat AS THE biggest international freight carrier between SA and Europe, Lufthansa Cargo has its own fully-fledged ground cargo handling company at Johannesburg International Airport (JIA). The operation handles the cargo for all Lufthansa’s passenger and freighter aircraft and for Singapore Airlines and Air Botswana. “But,” said Lufthansa Cargo’s export and training manager, Michelle Nolting, “we certainly have enough capacity to handle more airlines.” The number of airway bills handled monthly, amounts to about 2 100 export, and 3 200 import, she said. “We handle 1 200 tons of export cargo, and 1 000 tons of import cargo through our warehouse each month.” The handling facility - sited at the international cargo terminal at JIA - has a warehouse with 1 200 locations, and a separate 600-square metre lock-up area for cargo requiring safe handling. “However, all our valuable and vulnerable cargo is handled by Guardforce International.” “To provide extra safety our facilities are guarded by a 24-hour CCTV surveillance unit, with security staff stationed at each entrance and exit of our premises.” For Lufthansa Cargo, the unit handles the cargo on the six MD 11 freighter flights each week - a total of between 20 and 40-tons each flight, with the rest of the capacity shared by SAA and Lufthansa’s Nairobi operation. Cargo is also moved on Lufthansa’s evening passenger flights. The amount varies between 5 and 15 tons a day depending on what share has been allocated to the Cape Town leg of the flight. It’s a similar story for Singapore Airline’s seven passenger flights a week using the Boeing 777 aircraft where the tonnage varies depending on the Cape Town share. “But that averages to about 10 to 12 tons a day,” Nolting said. It’s a much smaller capacity on Air Botswana’s ATR aircraft, but with up to three loads a day being handled, depending on the amount of cargo in the warehouse.