Aero Africa said it is launching sea-air freight service from Asia to Africa through Dubai — a move that would expand its presence and services in China and the UAE.
In its announcement, the air cargo management group noted that the new SAS product (Sea Air Solution) provides specific benefits to regional economies, airlines, airports, seaports, shipping companies, forwarders, importers, and exporters, while its Dubai hub is highly strategic in terms of time, transport, infrastructure facilities and storage costs.
"Aero Africa group expands its operations in China and the U.A.E by launching a new sea-air combined transport product from Asia to 70 African destinations via Dubai," the announcement said.
Chair Prof. Issa Baluch, a pioneer in Sea-Air multimodal transport and Advisory Board Member, noted that SAS is "responsive to the client's needs for a solution to service their logistical dilemma between Asia & Africa."
"Sea/Air multimodal Transport is quite demanding in terms of the links in the chain, and it is refreshing to see Aero Africa dedicating their team in Asia, ME and Africa all focused to deliver an integrated multimodal solution to the satisfaction of their clients," Baluch said.
Jay Cameron, corporate product director, for his part, highlighted the advantages of a sea-air service in freight operations.
"SAS is faster than sea freight and more economical than airfreight and it reduces CO2 emissions up to 50 %," Cameron said.
"The documentation is overseen by a CTD, a single non-negotiable cohesive document which combines AWB and Bill of Lading and is governed by Standard Conditions (1997) of the FIATA Multimodal Transport Waybill," he added.
Joey Xu, director of Airfreight China, noted that freight forwarders and their clients can now avoid congested shipping lanes with long transit time (particularly to land-locked African countries and West Africa) and manage complex supply chain lead times and utilize strong pre-booked cargo capacity and BSAs ex Dubai to Africa.
"SAS estimated transit times from Asia to Africa range from 17-25 days depending on the origin and destination, while we only offer direct ocean carrier FCL services to Jebel Ali with weekly departures, and we maintain full control of cargo and capacity with our own service centres in China, UAE, and Africa," Xu added.
