Swissport puts aside $6m for Dar es Salaam upgrade

POSITIVE: Temu said an increase of carriers boosted Swissport sales.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Swissport Tanzania Plc, an aviation services company said, it has set aside $6.3million to construct a modern and state-of-the-art Cargo facility at Julius Nyerere International Airport.

The aviation services company told East African Business Week during the annual general meeting in Dar es Salaam last week, the new export facility will be able to handle perishable goods such as horticultural, meat and fish more efficiently.

Swissport’s Board Chairman, Juan José Andrés Alvez told shareholders that towards the end of the year, the company started the construction of a modern and “state of the art” cargo facility.

He said the new import facility is expected to be operational by the end of October this year (2014) after which, the old cargo terminal will be turned into a dedicated export cargo facility, featuring a Perishable Export Centre with chillers and freezers able to process all different types of produce such as fish, meat, vegetables, flowers and medicines.

“The new export facility is expected to facilitate exports out of the country especially horticultural produce, meat and fish,” Alvez said.

Alvez added that as one of the strategies of improving service delivery to their customers, Tsh3.17 billion (about $1.92 million) was invested in 2013 compared to Tsh2.43 billion (about $1.48 million that was invested in 2012.

“Greater part of the investment was directed to the Ground Support Equipment to better serve our airline customers,” he said.

The company has also recorded a remarkable 17% increase in its operating profit before tax of Tsh11.39 billion ($6.92 million) when compared to Tsh9.72 billion ($5.91 million) realized in financial year 2012, thanks to good aviation industry development in Tanzania.

Increased profitability of the company has pushed earnings per share to Tsh208.22 ($0.127) compared to Tsh186.75 ($0.113) reported in 2012. Swissport Tanzania’s Chief Executive Officer, Gaudence Temu said Fastjet expansion, full year operation of Kenya Airways, Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways into Kilimanjaro International Airport and increased frequencies and or change to bigger equipment by Emirates, KLM, Ethiopian Airways, Qatar Airways, South African Airways, Egypt Air and Rwanda Air all impacted positively on Swissport’s performance. Dar International is also getting a new terminal.

By Leonard Magomba, Monday, May 05th, 2014


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