Dar es Salaam —
Cargo tonnage handled through airports managed by the Tanzania Airports
Authority (TAA) decreased by 4.5 per cent in 2018 compared to the...
year
before, a new report shows.
The airports
handled 19,467 tonnes of cargo in 2018 from 20,389 tonnes in 2017, TAA
has reported, attributing the fall to improvement in other means of
transportation, particularly marine transport.
But aviation expert and trainer Juma Fimbo linked the decrease to the lack of serious investment in cargo business locally.
"Local cargo business has never been our priority. This is a challenge that we need to tackle," he said.
He urged airlines to deploy aircraft with large cargo carrying capacity to raise the business.
In a positive note,
however, the number of passengers, passing through airports managed by
TAA, jumped by 2.8 per cent to 3.473 million in 2018 compared to the
preceding year.
The growth was
significantly triggered by the government's continuous efforts to create
an enabling environment for the growth of the aviation industry,
including promotion of tourism and investment.
Mr Fimbo said Tanzania needs to respond to market demands by tapping into the opportunities wherever they emerge.
"For instance, a
large share of passengers travelling to Dubai, China and India are
businessmen... We are operating in an environment where cargo generates
passengers, so if airlines don't increase cargo carrying capacity, they
will end up losing travellers," he cautioned.
Swissport Tanzania
chief executive officer Mrisho Yassin echoed the TAA's report, saying
improvement in other means of transport ate into the portion of the
cargo carried by air transport.
He was of the view that cargo volume should be driven largely by exports and not imports as it was at present.
"Importation
doesn't add a lot to a country. We need to push for more export so that
we can have more foreign currency coming in," said Mr Yassin.
Going by the TAA
report, international cargo accounted for 87 per cent of tonnage carried
in 2018, with the rest being carried domestically.
The report shows that domestic cargo volume grew by 14.6 per cent while international cargo tonnage fell by 6.8 per cent.
Mr Yassin called
for more investment in the growing of perishable agricultural products
like horticultural ones if the volume for cargo via air transport was to
be uplifted.
"Already avocado
farmers are enjoying support from Sagcot [the Southern Agricultural
Growth Corridor of Tanzania]. Production is going up and this is
commendable," said the Swissport Tanzania boss.
He suggested for continuous support to investors who were investing in areas which supported production of perishable goods.
Mr Yassin commended the government's efforts in the construction of a modern abattoir at Kibaha, Coastal Region.
"It is high time
ground handling service providers and exporters invested more on cold
chain for transportation of perishable products," he said.
"Airlines for their part need to increase capacity for carrying perishable products."
According to the
report, cargo carried by international scheduled passenger flights
dropped by 4.2 per cent while that carried by freighters declined by
17.9 per cent.
The Air Tanzania
Company Limited (ATCL) CEO and managing director, Mr Ladislaus Matindi,
said they were conducting a study to see the possibility of having an
aircraft that will be specifically for cargo.
He said currently a
large portion of cargo was being carried by foreign airlines because of
locals' low capacity. Mr Matindi said they were carrying eight tonnes
of freight from India per trip.
ATCL in partnership
with other stakeholders have organised a business forum to be held in
India on March 5 where businesses from Tanzania will market their
products.
"We have what it
takes for Tanzania to export to India products like tomatoes, onions and
other perishable goods via air transport," noted Mr Matindi.
Precision Air chief executive officer Patrick Mwanri could not be reached for a comment on the issue.
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