State-owned aviation cargo company, National Handling Services (NHS), expects significant volume growth in the second half of this year once the extension to Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport is commissioned.
The US$153 million RGM International Airport project is soon expected to be handed over to the government.
Increased capacity at the country’s largest airport is expected to drive traffic into the country, as the Government continues to invest in upgrading key infrastructure in the country. NHS handled 3, 7 million tonnes of inbound cargo in 2022 while outbound tonnage closed the year at 778 000 tonnes. In preparation for the anticipated volume growth, NHS has embarked on a recapitalisation drive.
In 2022 the company took delivery of 4o container dollies, 20 pallets worth and a cargo cold-room v.
The company is still awaiting the delivery of pre-owned coasters and a cargo transporter bought, which it has already paid for.
“We are looking forward to the completion of RGMI airport and we see a lot of business coming from there, the anticipation has prompted us to embark on recapitalisation. We have a recapitalisation programme that has already seen us buying new pieces of equipment; we need to increase our pace in terms of recapitalisation and make sure that we improve capacity utilisation in all our operating areas, and increase our state-of-the-art equipment.
“This recapitalisation plan will equip us with the capacity to handle additional flights coming to Harare specifically because of the improved RGMI,” said NHS chief executive officer, Godknows Marawanyika at the company’s recent annual general meeting. Building an efficient air transport system is critical in enhancing the country’s economic growth as espoused in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1).
This comes at a time the Government has engaged the services of a consultant to steer the merger of NHS and Air Zimbabwe to enhance efficiency at the country’s airports. The Government, as the sole shareholder in NHS, has been pushing for the merger of the two entities with expectations that NHS will be key in the resuscitation of Air Zimbabwe’s given its (NHS) current thriving line of business.
NHS has been an autonomous (to other airlines) ground aviation handler of cargo after it was unbundled from Air Zimbabwe, by the Government in 1999.
According to NHS the intended re-merger with Air Zimbabwe is likely to cause loss of business and a weaker NHS, given the expected entry of new handling players in the industry.
Speaking on the sidelines of the AGM, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development Mike Madiro said issues to do with a remerger between NHS and Air Zimbabwe had been topical as the ministry pushed for sustainability of service provision in the sector by guaranteeing competitive nature of the industry.
“As a ministry, we stand ready to support the NHS as a key enabler to the realisation of our Government’s vision on connectivity with the region and the world and becoming an upper middle-class economy by year 2030. As the shareholder, we note that this AGM has come at a time when the NHS is making notable progress in aligning its mandate with the attendant legislative and policy frameworks,” said Deputy Minister Madiro.
NHS is on a diversification drive and is considering the establishment of a logistics company with feasibility studies currently underway.
Key achievements in the NHS diversification drive were the successful establishment of a dry port at Walvis Bay in Namibia, while the inland dry port initiative is now at an advanced stage with land identified for projects in Chirundu and Mutare.
The Walvis Bay dry port provides Zimbabwean merchants with a direct alternative shipping route to the Atlantic side from the Americas, the Far East, Europe, and West Africa.
NHS is a wholly government-owned company, licensed ground Aviation handler under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, Victoria Falls Airport , Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, Kariba Airport , Masvingo Airport and Buffalo Range Airport (BFO). – The Herald
