Upward growth curve continues for Emirates’ SA business

The SA market rates high in global esteem at Emirates SkyCargo, Ram Menen, divisional senior vicepresident cargo, told FTW in an exclusive interview on his recent SA visit. “Emirates SkyCargo began operating in SA when Emirates first launched flights into the country in 1995,” he said, “and has since been a significant contributor to the airline’s overwhelming success.” The upward growth curve continues, he added. “In the 12-month period between August 2008 and July 2009, Emirates SkyCargo’s uplift of SA exports increased nearly four-fold over the previous 12 months to more than 50-million kilograms. “The growth can be attributed to the introduction of the Cape Town service in March 2008 and the addition of the third daily flight to Johannesburg during the same year.” Menen also has high hopes for the new service flying in and out of Durban. “Further growth is expected with nearly 100-tonnes of additional capacity each week out of Durban,” he told FTW. The air cargo categories carried by Emirates SkyCargo are pretty varied, but fresh produce and automotive parts rank high on the list of export airfreight. “Emirates is a major carrier of fresh fruit out of SA,” said Menen, “with its key export destinations being Europe and the Middle East. SA beef is also a popular export, with Emirates carrying large quantities into the Middle East, Paris, Zurich and the rest of Europe. “The Cape is recognised for seafood and in particular its lobster, and we export fresh lobster to mainly Japan and Italy on a weekly basis.” Other key export items, Menen noted, were flowers (particularly proteas), gold, precious metals and automotive components (from Durban).” He ranks SA’s main airfreight export markets as France, Spain, Germany, UK, Italy and the Middle East (UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia), while the primary exports comprise, fresh fish, live lobsters, cut flowers and automotive parts bound mainly for Europe. Meat products, fruits and vegetables, flowers and express products are the main exports to the Middle East. However, he emphasised that the airline cargo section was also known for its ability to transport unusual items. “In the past,” he said, “some of these have included baby rhinos, a Siberian tiger, white lions, an entire cricket pitch in the form of thousands of grass plugs, sound and staging equipment for a rock concert and the A1 GP vehicles.”