As South Africa gears up to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the transformation of airports, rail services and other forms of public transport around the country continues apace.
While these transformations are designed to cope with the sheer volume of traffic expected during the four-week period of the soccer event, there are also long-term strategies behind these developments.
In Limpopo, Polokwane International Airport was relaunched this October, as a new, sleeker, more modern space. The airport will now be able to handle more than 200,000 passengers a year and is also putting facilities in place to house additional airlines.
However, looking beyond 2010, Gateway Airports Authority Limited (GAAL), the operator of Polokwane Airport, is also looking to capitalise on the airport’s location as an ideal cargo hub for Southern Africa.
With its excellent strategic location, nestled between Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, as well as its close proximity to South Africa’s economic capital Gauteng, Polokwane Airport is ideally located to capture freight traffic.
“We see the airport as a catalyst for economic development not only for Polokwane, but for the Limpopo province and the surrounding SADC countries,” says Sipho Mthombeni, chief executive of GAAL.
Mthombeni also notes that South Africa’s northern neighbours can utilise the airport as a gateway into South Africa.
Why not send all freight directly to OR Tambo in Johannesburg? Because the airport is already overloaded with traffic and the heavy congestion means the spill-over of freight traffic has to go somewhere.
While the obvious benefit for using Polokwane as a cargo hub is to relieve the congestion at OR Tambo and capture spill-over freight traffic, there are also benefits for those companies already utilising OR Tambo’s facilities.
“The benefit in terms of freight and airline clients is competitive discounted prices that will range from 25% to 40% lower that at OR Tambo,” says Mthombeni (pictured left).
While the design of the cargo hub at Polokwane has already been completed, GAAL is awaiting the results of feasibility study by Grant Thornton before beginning any construction work.
Much thought has already been given to the type of cargo likely to flow through the airport, however, and GAAL is targeting the export of fresh produce into Europe as well as processed food from South Africa into the SADC region.
It is not just the transport of traditional cargo that can be utilised at the airport however. Mthombveni notes that GAAL could also be “used by the United Nations food distribution arm into transporting relief using our cargo terminal to facilitate an efficient process.”
Ahead of the results of Grant Thornton’s study, Sipho Mthombeni is urging air freight companies to contact GAAL as the airport begins negotiating deals with companies wishing to take advantage of the airport’s strategic location.
“We want air freight companies to get in touch with GAAL and have us negotiate deals that work to the benefit of all parties to the deal genuinely,” said Mthombeni.
For more information:
Contact: Chief executive, Sipho Mthombeni
Email: siphogm@gmail.com
Tel: +27 15 288 0122
