Swissport faces stiff competition

The coming of a new ground handler at the JNIA is not a threat to us. Swissport is a very strong brand and this gives us confidence that we will continue to be a market leader” 

SWISSPORT TANZANIA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MR GAUDENCE TEMU


What you need to know:

“The coming of a new ground handler at the JNIA is not a threat to us. Swissport is a very strong brand and this gives us confidence that we will continue to be a market leader,” the Swissport Tanzania chief executive officer, Mr Gaudence Temu told BusinessWeek. 


Dar es Salaam. Finally, the stage is set for a bitter competition as the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) has got a second ground handling service provider.

Armed with a Sh50 billion investment, Nas-Dar Airco Company says it has what it takes to give Swissport Tanzania a run for its money, according to the company’s chairman Mr Salim Al-Hajri.

“The Sh50 billion investment in infrastructure, training and equipment is just the beginning….we will soon invest more,” Mr Hajri told BusinessWeek. 

But Swissport says the new player is not a threat to them.

“The coming of a new ground handler at the JNIA is not a threat to us. Swissport is a very strong brand and this gives us confidence that we will continue to be a market leader,” the Swissport Tanzania chief executive officer, Mr Gaudence Temu told BusinessWeek. 

The coming of Nas-Dar Airco Company has almost coincided with the inauguration of Swissport’s $13 million (over Sh26 billion) state-of-the-art import warehouse as the giant ground handler seeks to play an increasingly important role in facilitating import and export businesses in Tanzania.

The newly launched facility has special features that are deliberately designed to handle imports of a different nature and durability levels. It has locations for handling special cargo, with a 17 square metre room for live animals; a morgue that has a capacity of storing up to 4 bodies; 64 square metres for vulnerable items; 40 square metres for storage of valuable items; 12 square metres for storage of radioactive items and a 65-square metre room storage of dangerous goods

The company’s facilities for export operations remain intact in the old terminal due to the fact that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requires the separation of import and export cargo so they can be accepted under international standards.

On the other hand, Nas-Dar Airco Company is a joint venture between the Kuwait-based National Aviation Services (Nas) and Tanzania’s Airco which is based in Mwanza.

The latter was awarded a ten-year concession to start providing ground handling services at JNIA by the Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA) in November last year to officially bring to an end the monopoly that has traditionally been enjoyed by Swissport.  According to Nas-Dar Airco human resources manager Neema Mwang’amba, going by the experiences of shareholders who form the company, she is confident that it (Nas-Dar) has what it takes to give Swissport a run for its money. 

Airco and Nas have been in the industry for 16 and 13 years respectively. The firm’s chief commercial officer, Mr, David Henderson shared similar sentiments. “We will take advantage of the experience of the two partners to perform excellently and attract more customers….With combination of international experience and local expertise which Nas and Airco have respectively, it is high time for us to revolutionise this industry,” he said.

Key to its success, he said, would be delivery of services that meet international standards. This would be possible through investment in technology and human resource.

“We have large software development team in Kuwait,” he boasted.

But according to Mr Temu, Swissport has also invested massively in equipment and in the training of its employees thus providing it with a platform to remain on top of the competition. “In fact, we see the coming of a new player to be good news for the industry….it gives customers a wider choice on who should handle their products but I what I can assure you is that the new operator is not strong enough to compete with us,” said Mr Temu.