Swissport Kenya bulk cargo handling plan runs into regulatory headwinds

Swissport workers at an airport. PHOTO | FILE 

By GEORGE OMONDI, omondi@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• The National Environmental Tribunal stops works pending determination of case filed by the KAA over alleged lack of authorisation.

The National Environmental Tribunal (NET) has stopped logistics firm Swissport from building a bulky cargo bypass at its Jomo Kenyatta International Airport premises stalling the company’s plan to start handling such goods beginning next month.

Swissport had started building a wall creating a way-leave to the aircraft loading zone – or the airside of its airport based warehouses -- but the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) objected to the construction work on grounds that the logistics firm had not sought the necessary authorisation for the work.

KAA had initially written to Swissport asking for a confirmation that the logistics firm had obtained the necessary permits for the project but construction work continued unabated causing the filing of an appeal before the tribunal.

“All activities on the land relating to the appeal in question must be stopped until the appeal is heard and determined,” the tribunal said in an April 27 letter to Swissport Kenya.

The Nairobi-based firm is an affiliate of Swissport International, which is known across the aviation industry as a provider of ground handling and cargo services to about 700 aviation customers.

Swissport International says on its website that it employed up to 60,000 people and generated revenue worth Sh300 billion in 2014.

In Kenya, however, the firm has been grappling with a design defect that has significantly limited its ability to handle airlines that fly bulk cargo.

Early this year, Swissport started building an express lane at the JKIA to ease the transfer of bulk cargo between aircraft and its warehouses causing it to build the bypass.

Known technically as bulk unitisation programme (BUP), the extension enables clearing and forwarding firms to move bulk cargo to and from the aircraft with minimum risk of damage and theft.

READ: JKIA-based cargo firms expand warehouses

A flurry of letters that have been exchanged between Swissport and Kenya’s regulatory authorities have however set the stage for a long drawn-out battle over the project.

The National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) in a notice dated April 14 accused Swissport Kenya chief executive Jeroen de Clercq of flouting regulatory procedures required for the construction work.

“We have received a complaint from your neighbours concerning the construction and hereby direct you to immediately stop the construction activities until you obtain an EIA licence. You must also submit a letter to the Authority (Nema) to the effect that you will comply with the above requirements within 24 hours.”

Swissport apparently ignored the Nema directive forcing the JKIA acting managing director Richard Ngovi to write to Swissport Kenya demanding evidence of KAA and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority’s (KCAA) approval of the construction work.

Mr Ngovi also demanded that Swissport submits a certificate of safety training and licence issued by Nema.