Time-critical cargo pushes up airfreight demand

Chartered airfreight is keeping the auto industry moving across the continent. “We are dealing with more and more short-lead requests to get time-critical cargo to the designated destination in the shortest possible time to prevent disruption in production,” says Heinz Lange, operations manager – Africa at Chapman Freeborn. Large and complex consignments are being moved: “We were recently involved in a rather large project within the automotive sector whereby urgent cargo items had to be chartered to local South African destinations in the shortest turnaround time possible in order not to halt production. “Due to the variety of different automotive parts required we chartered a combination of Cessna Caravans, PC12s and DC4s,” he says. The aircraft were available in the region, and flight plans were approved in record time. “We have up-to-theminute access to the very latest information on aircraft availability and operating conditions and were able to have the flights airborne within a couple of hours.” According to Lange, there is a growing demand for airfreight as African economies grow. “We have new scheduled services weekly from Johannesburg to Entebbe (Uganda) on a McDonnell Douglas MD-11. “Aircraft-to-aircraft ramp transfer is provided by Chapman Freeborn’s own staff with a next-day connection on a 6T aircraft from Entebbe to Mwanza (Tanzania) and onward to destinations such as Juba, Mogadishu, Bunia, Pemba and more to come in the next few weeks. We do this schedule on a per/kg quotation.” According to Lange, charters are being used for both short and long-distance deliveries. “We have seen a rise in short lead time requests in order to get cargo in the air with urgency. Consignments range from outsize cargo to a lot of smaller items or parts. “We have access to the smallest Cessna cargo configured plane to the largest Antonov 124, Antonov 225 or Boeing 747 freighters,” he said. CAPTION Charters cater for all sizes, all urgency.