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Stories by Louis Ibah
Why should I freight my goods by air instead of moving same by ocean carriers or even by road which are more economical?. This is one question operators in the air cargo and freight industry as they try to sell the idea of air freighting to nigerian business owners. Aduka Samuel, a Lagos based clearing and forwarding agent, said the business of moving large volume of goods by air “is one that is still at its infancy stage in Nigeria.
According to him, those who avoid freighting their goods by air are just ignorant. They don’t know how to go about it, and are also unaware of the benefits.
In today’s world, freighting goods by air, however appears to be gaining so much ground.
In 2013 for instance, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) forecast was that the world scheduled air freight traffic expressed in freight tonne-kilometres performed (FTK) will grow by 0.4 per cent, and was also expected to increase by 3.7, 4.2, and 4.4 per cent in 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively.
In Nigeria, and particularly over the last four years, there has been a rise in the volume of import and export businesses going on in Nigerian airports. And nothing underscores the strategic importance and profitability of air cargo business in Nigeria than the recent disclosure by exporters of perishable cargoes and vegetables in Nigeria that they lost about N100million within 24 hours following the shut down of the warehouses of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) and Skyway Aviation handling Company (SAHCOL) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The warehouses were shut down by Nigerian Customs officials following a tip off that the bonded facilities housed stolen and prohibited items meant for export.
Why airfreight
Air freight simply means the use an air mode to deliver goods.
Air-freight planes can therefore move anything that can be bought or sold.
You can transport just about anything by air, including letters, packages, cars, horses, construction equipment and even other airplanes can be shipped air freight. The planes that carry all these goods range from normal commercial airlineres to some amazing flying mutants!
In fact, renowned shipping companies like FedEx, DHL and UPS own many different types of cargo planes. One of the largest ones is the Boeing 747. When configured as a freighter, the Boeing 747-400 can hold about 26,000 cubic feet (736 m3) of cargo. That’s about as much as five semi trucks can haul. The 747-400 can hold 30 pallets of goods on the main level. The pallets are 96 by 125 inches (2.4 m by 3.2 m) and up to 120-inches (3.05-m) tall. All of these goods are loaded through hatches in the side of the plane. If you need to transport a helicopter, or even a plane, all you need is an aircraft called a Super Transporter. This plane is built with a huge cargo area located above the cockpit, allowing freight to fill almost the full length of the plane.
Benefits
Cost: You probably don’t have to be told to consider the costs before venturing into any form of business. As a business person, you consider the bottom line and as an individual, you have a budget. Naturally, you’re going to want to know which will cost you less, airfreight or ocean freight. Typically, you will hear that shipping by ocean is cheaper than shipping by air. And typically, this is true; however, this is not necessarily the case.
According to online medium Universal Cargo, to make the best decision, it helps to be educated about how carriers charge for international shipping. Airlines bill you by what is called a chargeable weight. Chargeable weight is calculated from a combination of the weight and size of a shipment. Sea carriers charge per container rates for shipping in standard containers (20’ and 40’ being the most common sizes). While weight can factor into the price from sea carriers, their charge tends to be based more on the size of a shipment. If you are shipping less than a container load, your price is often determined by cubic meter. With larger and heavier shipments, it is often much cheaper to ship by sea. As a shipment gets smaller, the margin between the prices gets smaller and sometimes air will even end up less expensive.
Shippers should note that there are destination charges to consider. Whether shipping by air or by sea, there will be customs and destination fees. While the actual shipment cost of sea freight is usually cheaper than the shipment cost of air freight, the warehousing fees at seaports are many times more expensive than those at airports.
Speed
When it comes to speed, there is no question that air freight is usually much faster. Since time is money, this factor could more than make up for a higher cost of flying cargo. Many sea shipments can take around a month to arrive while an air shipment takes a day or two. For most business shipping, faster is better. When it comes to the individual moving a household, it is often good to have the extra time to prepare for the arrival of household goods in a new country. It should be noted that technology keeps moving forward in the international shipping world. Ships are getting faster. Canals have created shorter shipping routes. There are many ocean freight shipments crossing the oceans and being delivered in as few as eight days.
Reliability
Reliability is something we all look for in people, businesses, products, and services. How does ocean freight and air freight stack up against each other in this category? Air freight shipping has a much, much shorter history than ocean freight shipping, yet air freight tends to win the battle of reliability.
Flights get delayed by weather and other factors, but airlines tend to be very on top of their schedules. Ocean carriers are notorious for being bad about this. It is not uncommon for ships to be off schedule. For many, a day or two here or there doesn’t hurt; however, for many businesses, a day or two could have serious cost effects. With airlines, there are usually daily flights back and forth between major cities around the world. Because of this, missing a flight doesn’t cause much of a delay for a cargo shipment. Ocean lines tend to have weekly schedules. Missing the cutoff at a seaport means a longer delay.
There are several licenced Customs clearing and forwarding agents who act like brokers to assist those who wish to freight goods by air into and out of Nigeria. These agents have a vast knowledge of Customs procedures and regulations and for a fee would provide consultancy services for pre and post shipment services, and also assist in Customs clearance and overall clearance of the cargo the moment it arrives, and they often save both cost and time and for freighters.
Airports
There are five major airports that handle airfreight in Nigeria. The Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugy; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kanoj; Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos; and the Port-Harcourt.
We’ll utilise IOSA certification –Medview boss
Managing Director/CEO of Medview Airline Limited, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, says the airline plans to commence an interlining project with some international airlines as part of measures to utilise its recently awarded International Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Certification by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Interlining, also known as interline ticketing and interline booking, is a voluntary commercial agreement between individual airlines to handle passengers traveling on itineraries that require multiple flights on multiple airlines. Such agreements allow passengers to change from one flight on one airline to another flight on another airline without having to gather their bags or check-in again. Carriers that participate in airline alliances such as Star Alliance or Oneworld almost always have interline agreements with each other.
However, even direct competitors can benefit from interline agreements. When a ticket is issued for an interline itinerary, one of the airlines in that itinerary will be selected by the ticketing agent as the issuing airline, commonly referred to as the “plating carrier”.
The IOSA certification given to Medview Airline last week meant the airline’s safety and security processes and facilities now aligns with international standards and are comparable to those found in any of the world’s renowned airlines to allow them interlining .
Bankole who received the IOSA Certification from IATA on behalf of the airline thanked staff who worked tirelessly to meet all the IATA criteria for the IOSA certification.
The Med-view boss in his speech recalled how various attempts made by the airline to interline with some foreign airlines had been turned down over the years because the airline was not IOSA certified.
The most recent of such cases, Bankole said, involved Etihad Airline. “We tried to interline with Etihad and they asked if we were IOSA certified and we said no and the deal collapsed,” he said.
“But that process is now possible with the IOSA certification and I am proud to say we are now one of those most compliant to safety airlines and after going through this process for the last two years I can tell you it wasn’t a child’s play, with a lot of external auditing, checking of books, I want to thank my workforce, I dedicate this to the entire workforce,” he added.
Regional Manager, South West Africa for IATA, Mr Samson Fatokun who presented the IOSA certification to Medview at the airline’s headquarters in Lagos said the certification came after about two years of painstaking safety audit by an IATA team that eventually ensured the airline met all the stringent criteria for its flights and crew to operate as a first class airline in the global industry. He said the certification also allows them to do businesses with corporate organisations who now have more confidence in the safety standards of the airline.
“Medview Airline has successfully completed the requirement to be on the IOSA registry. It took a lot of work for them to be aligned to the safety requirement of IOSA and this is a major milestone for them as a Nigerian airline,” said Fatokun.
“I encourage them to take full advantage of the IOSA certification by interlining with other international airlines. They should also do everything to sustain the safety standards that got them the IOSA. It is one thing to get it and another thing to stay there because every two years, the airline (Medview) will go through a re-evaluation, it is a continuous process,” he added.
