Smaller markets make challenges manageable

Africa is not for the fainthearted, says Garry Marshall, managing director of BidAir Cargo, although when it comes to airfreight, markets are relatively small, making most of the challenges manageable. In addition to operations in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia, the company recently opened in Uganda and Tanzania, extending its African reach even further. “From our perspective we see quite high growth potential for Africa, but it is off a small base affecting profit potential,” says Marshall. “Our expertise lies in partnering with African airlines that are more passenger-orientated and have no cargo proficiency. Our role is to provide the airline with a profitable cargo operation and network at zero risk and cost to the airlines. Their entire cargo operation is outsourced to us, including personnel, premises, sales and systems. With a network in place representing these airlines in Southern and Eastern Africa, we have the expertise and resources available to represent international airlines in the more conventional GSSA/ handling arena.” Having worked in Africa extensively, Marshall believes local knowledge is key for successful operations. “We tend to employ local personnel, but because our business model is unique, we support it strongly from our base in South Africa,” he says. “As airline partners, compliance is non-negotiable, particularly when it comes to safety and processes. Airports all over the world are constrained environments and we struggle with the limited facilities. In South Africa we are well established at all the primary airports, but in the rest of our African network this is problematic. The markets, however, are small so the problems are manageable.” Marshall says the challenge in airfreighting to Africa is that one has to be cautious in the approach and this restricts network expansion. “Political stability, a sound and honest business environment and market potential are key elements of our growth. We see a maturation of African markets, but the real issue is mostly that the markets are small relative to developed countries and we need to take this into consideration when deciding on investment.”