Zimbabwe perishable exporters face capacity squeeze

Gareth Costa THE RECENT termination by British Airways of its Harare - London service has raised concerns about diminished capacity for high value horticultural exporters until other operators make plans to fill the three flights a week cargo capacity void created by the withdrawal. FTW was alerted to the problem by Jas Forwarding’s head of perishables Neil Harris who has been trying to find a cost-effective solution for flower exporters unable to find capacity into London and who now face an additional cost per kilogram to route through Johannesburg. Cayley Wallace, BA’s commercial manager for Southern Africa, told FTW that most of the cargo out of Harare was perishable but that BA in Johannesburg was in discussions with key customers in Zimbabwe to resolve the problem. An official BA statement says: “The Harare market makes an important contribution to BA World Cargo’s performance in Africa and the carrier will continue to serve customers using its network within Southern Africa. BA World Cargo is conducting a thorough review of how this can be done in the most efficient manner and will communicate its findings once this review is concluded. The withdrawal of Harare flights is for commercial reasons as it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify our operation against consistent losses.” No other airline contacted by FTW indicated they had any new plans to serve the Zimbabwean airfreight market. According to a statement from Martinair, there are no reports of perishables stranded in Harare since the termination of the BA service. “The produce export season – fruit and vegetables – generally runs from mid May to mid October, and Martinair Cargo increased frequencies from Harare to Amsterdam to four flights a week from September in line with seasonal demand from flower exporters,” Bob Bover, Martinair’s vice president cargo sales Africa told FTW. “We currently lift an average of 300 tonnes perishable cargo per week from Zimbabwe to the Netherlands.” However, reaching London may be just the first problem Zimbabwean exporters face. Air Zimbabwe has just undergone an International Air Transport Association (Iata) audit and ZimOnline reports that all was not well at the airline over the Iata Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), meaning that planes could face airspace restrictions such as flying into Europe. The Zimbabwean Independent also reports that Ethiopian Airlines wants to discontinue its Harare operation. It says that while the government claims the airline will continue operating into Zimbabwe, its own aviation sources still believe the matter is far from resolved and the airline will leave in the middle of November. In the past ten years 18 international airlines have left the country.