Africa’s ‘Moon Shot’: Preparing for an African air cargo renaissance

Outlook for 2019

At this early date in the year, the horizon still seems full of promise for African airfreight as various companies compete for the continent’s opportunities.

De Silva said DB Schenker will place greater emphasis this year on attracting new talent to the African market. “We, in fact, run a campus in South Africa – the DB Schenker Logistics Campus – to encourage youngsters to learn the freight industry and then find suitable employment with us, and also in other industry-related companies. Our investment in this aspect is yielding good results.”

“We are cautiously optimistic on growth in the EMEA region in 2019,” said Astral’s Gadhia. “We remain confident that airfreight from Europe to Africa and from the Middle East to Africa will show positive growth in 2019, despite the low fuel prices, which will affect investments in the oil and gas sector in Africa.”

E-commerce cargo is on the rise in Africa, he added, especially in South Africa and Nigeria, with record volumes of imports of e-commerce cargoes from Europe. E-commerce cargo from China will be the next big thing in Africa due to lower costs, Gadhia predicted, “however the high cost of airfreight from China to Africa, is a major cause of concern.”

“African currencies are not favoring too well, so it’s a buyer’s market for export and a tough market for importers at present,” said Aero Africa’s Anderson. “But there is movement in the energy sector with activity in Mozambique. Many of the assets are either being stored in Africa, ready for re-deployment, or will be trucked in from neighboring countries.”

“Africa is surely coming up, and will continue to come up in a big way, due to its young demographics, increase in disposable income, significant investments in the region and the overall alacrity by the authorities to develop the industry,” De Silva said. “Growth in retail, consumer goods, healthcare, and project cargo movement should provide notable opportunities for the 2019 air cargo market to grow.”

This year may be too early to witness the “giant leap” for African air cargo that starry-eyed forwarders have been hoping for. But in terms of the continent’s infrastructure, get ready to see some pretty big internationally funded steps on the horizon.