Page 15 - LUA January - February 2023 Magazine

Council, Jeroen van der Hulst, Owner and
Founder, FlowerWatch and Parit Shah, the
owner of Silpack Industries Limited and
Daniel Sepetu, DGM, East Africa Cluster,
CMA CGM.
The first-panel discussion was on 'The
new normal for flower shippers of Africa
after the pandemic".
Kenya Airports Authority’s (KAA)
commercial manager, Cargo, Jacob Bwana
spoke about the new normal for flowers (From L-R) Roland Weil, Frankfurt Airport; Faith Ambajo, Amiran Kenya; Sanjeev Gadhia, Astral Aviation;
and on freight moving to the sea and said, Jacob Bwana, Kenya Airports Authority; Ken Mbogo, Saudi Airlines Cargo Company at the panel discussion
“The value proposition for air freight
remains flexibility, sustainability and
resilient supply chains as it can deliver on
cost, quality, and speed. If there is visibility
and traceability from end to end, which
air freight does then it still takes the center
stage when it comes to the speed value
proposition that it has. I do not foresee a
future where that will drastically change. ”
Homing in on the numerous freighter
conversions going on globally, Roland
Weil, VP – Sales, Cargo, Frankfurt Airport
said that capacity will likely return and
the market will battle for low-yield cargo
commodities where perishables can
hold sway. He said, “We are seeing a new
generation of freighter aircraft coming into (From L-R) Matthieu Serafimoff, Aviapartner Cargo NV; Racheal Ndegwa, Swissport Kenya; Chagema Kedera,
the market like Boeing 777 and 300 ERs, COLEACP Kenya; Benny Smets, Ninatrans at the panel discussion
A330s that are being converted and will
enter the market late next year, so there is
a massive capacity coming into the market. to streamline the delivery process to their
Most of them will be replacing the ageing warehouse and about the Flower Corridor
747 fleets and it will be a tradeoff owing to launched in November 2022, Racheal
similar capacity.” Ndegwa, CEO at Swissport Kenya said,
Ken Mbogo, Regional Sales Director “A way of supporting shippers is how fast
Africa at Saudi Airlines Cargo Company we can ensure the acceptance process of
said, “To get the freighter capacity back shipments and we have automated that
for the perishables, the perishable rates process and it is still going on the cargo kiosk
or the flower rates have to up their game in such a way that the shipper can actually do
and compete with e-commerce and other part of the process rather than keeping them
products from Asia Pacific, etc, so it's The value waiting. The idea of the ‘Flower Corridor
really a question of whether we have the initiative’ is to create flower links similar to
right freight rates selling in the market, proposition pharma and it works for this market and we
and perhaps then we can attract the for air freight need to look at traffic on both ends. We are
capacity back.” working with Swissport Liege and Brussels
The second panel deliberated on remains flexibility, (teams) around rolling out this flower
the topic, "Can airport community sustainability, and corridor on the other side.”
collaboration eliminate weak links, resort Batting for digitization for better
in a more efficient fresh corridor with resilient supply communication and synergy among flower
digitization as the ultra-enabler?' and chains as it can trade stakeholders, Chagema Kedera,
highlighted how airports can anchor and deliver on cost, Programme Coordinator at COLEACP
create cargo communities that will enable Kenya said, “COLEACP is an association
collaboration across the value chain and quality, and speed. that brings together exporters from ACP
offer value additions to shippers. JACOB BWANA countries and importers in Europe. Whether
Talking about how Swissport works KENYA AIRPORTS AUTHORITY you are talking about production, processing
with the shippers and trucking community shopping, market, or market compliance

JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2023 LUA 13