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South African, world business growing – Emirates

8th March 2013

By: Keith Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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The cargo division of Dubai-based international airline Emirates, which is branded as SkyCargo, is reporting good airfreight traffic to and from South Africa.

“With South Africa we have quite a nice mix of cargo,” says South Africa-based SkyCargo senior cargo sales executive Muhammad Cassim. “It’s year round, although perishables are seasonal, concentrated from November to January. The long-term trend is up. It looks very positive.”

The main perishables (particularly fruit) export season, just past, ran a little longer than previously, indicating a slight but welcome shift in the markets. A recent addition to the perishables export category, and less seasonal, is fish and shellfish from both Namibia (via Windhoek) and South Africa (from Cape Town). “It’s generally hake, and the tonnage is quite substantial,” he reports. “But there is also lobster to China, especially Shanghai.”
The big year-round airfreight export com-modity from South Africa is automotive parts, which are sent to Germany, China and the Middle East. “Especially engine blocks, sent to other automotive plants elsewhere in the world.”
“The import business is staggering,” affirms Cassim. “We had to add a third freighter to the Johannesburg run in December.” The main imports to South Africa are electronics, general textiles and pharmaceuticals (many of the last for redistribution elsewhere in Africa). In addi- tion to these three freighters, Emirates also flies airfreight to and from South Africa in the holds of its passenger jets. Apart from Cape Town and Johannesburg, the company also flies cargo to and from Durban.
Airfreight is, in general, important to the airline’s global operations. “Last year, cargo produced 17% of the revenue of the airline – cargo alone is a $2.6-billion business for us,” highlights Emirates divisional senior VP: cargo Ram Menen. “As an airline, we cover all the six continents. We operate at both hub and secondary airports. Our capacity is all widebody [aircraft]. With us, you can virtually go anywhere to anywhere, with one stop in Dubai.”

During the first half of the current financial year (April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013) the air-line’s cargo volumes rose by 16%, compared with the previous semester, despite the fact that global air cargo volumes decreased by 1.7% during calendar 2012 (according to preliminary figures). “A lot of our growth is from network expansion,” he reports.
The heart of SkyCargo’s operations is its Cargo Mega Terminal in Dubai. This can handle more than 1.2-million tons of cargo a year. It contains facilities for refrigerated prod-ucts, live animals (including racehorses) and has noise-protected and light-controlled areas.
Emirates can provide special handling and transport equipment and facilities for pharma- ceuticals and other healthcare products, and for valuable and very valuable cargoes, including a dedicated Escort Service in Dubai. As far as possible, the airline uses “paperless” (all shipments processed electronically) proced-ures and transactions.
The airline is equipped solely with widebody airliners and freighters, with cargo carried by both types of aircraft. The dedicated freighter fleet currently numbers ten aircraft, of which three are Boeing 747-400F and 747-400ERF aircraft, while the rest are all Boeing 777Fs.
The 777Fs are all brand-new and owned by the airline. “We took four new [777] freighters last year,” points out Menen. “We’re taking on three more this year, but we’re giving up one 747 – its lease is expiring. The 777 [freighter] is a good aircraft. It lifts 103 t of cargo.”
The 777F is powered by two General Electric GE90 engines, each with a thrust of 498 kN to 512 kN (depending on whether they are GE90-110B1L or GE90-115BL units) and can carry that 103 t of freight nonstop on ten-hour route lengths. It has a maximum range of 9 070 km and has a typical cruise speed of 896 km/h at about 11 000 m (35 000 feet). It can also accommodate 11 cargo attend-ants, meaning that it can carry consignments of live animals, such as horses, cattle or other livestock.

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Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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