Page 5 - LUA September - October 2023 Magzter

It is my hope that other service providers While agreeing that Africa’s share in the
will leverage the completion of this market is too low, Bonface Muse, senior
project to invest in other areas such as the commercial officer, cargo, Kenya Airports
establishment of Maintenance, Repair and Authority, also points out an important
Overhaul (MRO) facility, development metric which is the intra-Africa trade and
of cargo facilities and cold stores for the air cargo movements.
export of fresh produce and establishment As he said, “Air cargo in Africa is
of Aviation Training Organization (ATO) still less developed. We are way behind
among others.” the global market. Especially, we have
Tamale International Airport is one Africa as a continent very little intra-Africa trade. Even at
example among many in Africa where the faces limitations our leading airport Jomo Kenyatta
government and local authorities hope in terms of airport International Airport in Nairobi, the
to initiate industrialisation, tap social business is mostly outbound to Europe,
economic growth and attract investments infrastructure, system Asia and the Middle East and intra-Africa
around an airport and particularly their and policy compared is a small percentage. The outbound is
cargo operations. to other developing mostly fresh produce like flowers, fruits,
It should be noted that Africa’s share vegetables, meat and fish.”
in the global air cargo market is a mere continents. Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
2 percent compared to Asia Pacific’s 32, ABEL ALEMU is among the best cargo airports in Africa
North America’s 28 and Europe’s 21. ETHIOPIAN CARGO & LOGISTICS SERVICES and it competes with Ethiopia’s Addis
However, as an untapped market the Ababa, South Africa’s Johannesburg in the
long-term potential for growth in this airlines had the strongest performance south and Morocco in the north.
market is also huge. with a 3 percent increase in cargo volumes Meanwhile, Abel Alemu, MD,
For example, according to the July 2023 compared to July 2022. Notably, Africa– Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services,
cargo traffic numbers of the International Asia routes experienced significant cargo pointed out that governments in
Air Transport Association (IATA), African demand growth (10 percent). the continent must invest so that

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