Germany’s number one international airport, Frankfurt, is seeking to increase its two-way air cargo trade with South Africa. This was highlighted at a media briefing at the 2017 Air Cargo Africa conference in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, by Fraport AG chief operating officer Anke Giesen. (Fraport is the company that operates Frankfurt International Airport.)

“Business is already flourishing,” she pointed out. “Germany is already South Africa’s second largest trading partner, after China.” More than 600 German companies are active in South Africa. “These strong ties between our two countries are reflected by Frankfurt Airport.”

But the two countries both want to further increase this trade. And Fraport is eager to play its part in achieving this.

South Africa is the airport’s biggest air freight customer in Africa. (Frankfurt is connected with 29 destinations across the continent.) Two-way traffic totalled 35 000 t last year, which was an 8.5% increase over the figure for 2015.

“Frankfurt stands out not only because of its central location in Europe, but also for its route network,” she notes. It has the largest destination network of any airport in Europe, with 88 operators serving 248 destinations in 100 countries across all the inhabited continents. All the world’s biggest airfreight operators fly to and from Frankfurt.

Regarding South Africa, the airport is seeking in particular to increase bilateral automotive sector air freight. “Cars are one of the most important product groups in German/South African trade,” cites Giesen. Automotive products are South Africa’s second most important export category to Germany and are Germany’s single biggest export category to South Africa. “Automotive is [also] a key industry in the Frankfurt region.”

The airport has a strategic modernisation and expansion programme under way, designated Cargo City 2020. This will add 100 000 m² of warehouse space to its existing facilities. Frankfurt is already the number one air cargo hub in Germany, the number two in Europe and the number ten in the world.

“Fraport is only one part of the air cargo supply chain,” she observed. “Together with all our partners we have created the Air Cargo Community Frankfurt. We can only maintain a seamless process for our customers if all the players on site work together.”