Cargo infrastructure development to boost African economy: Astral Aviation CEO

Aug 27, 2018: Despite air cargo being a catalyst for economic growth and development in Africa, the airports still witness lack of cargo infrastructure. Only one third of the airports possess sufficient infrastructure to meet the requirements of freighter airlines.

At the Modern Airports Africa 2018 Conference, organised by the IQPC Germany held at Nairobi from Aug 21-22, 2018, Sanjeev Gadhia, CEO, Astral Aviation has put forth the concerns relating to freighter airlines on the cargo infrastructure at the airports.

During his presentation at the conference, Gadhia has made some observations about Africa that the investments in existing and new cargo infrastructure must be considered as a national priority. However, PPPs are present in the industry, at certain airports there are monopolies existing on handling services resulting in higher costs. There is lack of right facilities such as cargo buildings, staging, storage areas and apron in an optical location. Meanwhile, the airside and landside service roads are not well maintained leading to cargo and ground services equipment (GSE) being damaged during transportation. He further added that there is a lack of aircraft parking positions for all cargo freighters and proper designated areas for storage of GSE.

He ensured that the observations are provided with certain recommendations for improvising the cargo infrastructure. There is a need for airport authorities to constantly monitor the ground services providers (GSP) to ensure that they engage qualified/trained personnel and maintain their GSE to enhance safe and secure operations. Security becomes a concern in terms of theft/pilferage of cargo within the airports. The need to manage and maintain the perimeter fences and manned access point is a crucial point. There is need for enhanced customs processing for speed and efficiency in cargo clearance in order to reduce costs. This may include a centralised and paper-less service to clear cargo rapidly, he further added. The requirement for more specialised air cargo facilities that meet the individual operating needs of carriers, freight forwarders and the cargo industry in general is one of the recommendations to be considered on priority. This would allow for cargo segregation into imports, exports, transit, dangerous goods, perishables, express, ecommerce, high value cargo, pharmaceutical products, live animals etc. to promote better handling.