Upfront payments no problem for charter operator

WHILE SOME European shippers are leery of paying African transport companies in advance, the bad reputation of a continent or business community can be offset by the good reputation of an individual company’s performance. “We’ve worked hard to establish trust and have built up a good reputation. Companies in London, for instance, that use us know that we are true to our word. If a job is not completed, we return the money to them,” said Lauren Nicolas, operations manager at Soviet Air. International aid organisations have also come to depend on Soviet’s achievement in getting things done. “We do a lot of relief cargo, this year to Cameroon," said Nicolas, along with mining equipment sent from SA throughout Africa, where deadlines are less urgent. With its fleet of Russian-built aircraft – an IL-76 with cargo capacity of 50 tonnes, an Antonov-12 with 20-tonne capacity and an AN-72 that can take on up to 10 tonnes, the firm is kept busy with shipments of general merchandise from Vatry, France to Central and Northern Africa. “There has been a definite increase in cargo volumes this past year,” said Nicolas.