Huge potential for Brunei to be top air cargo hub
Friday, August 10, 2007
BRUNEI has the potentiality to become one of Asia's successful air cargo hubs, according to Brunei International Air Cargo Centre (BIACC), Brunei International Airport.
This was foresighted in a presentation on the centre's development and progress made during a working visit by Minister of Communications, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia Hj Abu Bakar Hj Apong at the head office, yesterday.
BIACC's General Manager Ariffin Hj Emran outlined the centre's potentiality, in terms of its capacity, to provide efficient and 24 hour professional ground handling and refuelling services.
BIACC handled more than 22,000,000kg of cargoes in the financial year of 2006/07, and more than 7,000,000kg for the first quarter of 2007/08. The strategic geographical location of Brunei is perfect for making it a hub for cargo flows between China, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.
However, he identified several issues impeding the centre's plans in realising the ministry's vision.
Besides Brunei's small population and industrial market base, the air cargo capacity in and out of Brunei is limited.
Ariffin explained that most of the airlines operating into Brunei are passengers orientated.
He attributed this to the lack of belly hold space to accommodate large volumes of shipment. The current spaces only manage to cater to smaller planes, such as the A319 and A320.
Other setbacks include limited cargo trunk routes and connectivity and less competitive transshipment cargo rates.
"What we (proposed) to do is to obviously create more cargo capacity into Brunei," he said. He added that BIACC was also looking into inviting more airline companies, including cargo integrators that specialise in handling courier services, to use Brunei as their sub hub.
"By doing this, we can become a platform to support hubbing."
After the presentation, the minister was taken on a tour, focusing on the units of the daily operations of the centre. He spent a considerable amount of time in the bonded warehouse dubbed the "heart of the business", where a large percentage of cargoes is handled.
The minister observed the workers engaged in the building-up and breaking down of the cargoes.
He also took the opportunity to survey the facilities, such as the temperature controlled chiller and freezer and separate storage areas for valuable and dangerous goods.
A joint venture company established in 2000, BIACC began its operation in 2002, after taking over all BIA cargo operations in the same year.
It is a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Air Cargo Ground Council, and also Transported Assets Protection Association (TAPA) Asia.
The Brunei Times
This was foresighted in a presentation on the centre's development and progress made during a working visit by Minister of Communications, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia Hj Abu Bakar Hj Apong at the head office, yesterday.
BIACC's General Manager Ariffin Hj Emran outlined the centre's potentiality, in terms of its capacity, to provide efficient and 24 hour professional ground handling and refuelling services.
BIACC handled more than 22,000,000kg of cargoes in the financial year of 2006/07, and more than 7,000,000kg for the first quarter of 2007/08. The strategic geographical location of Brunei is perfect for making it a hub for cargo flows between China, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia.
However, he identified several issues impeding the centre's plans in realising the ministry's vision.
Besides Brunei's small population and industrial market base, the air cargo capacity in and out of Brunei is limited.
Ariffin explained that most of the airlines operating into Brunei are passengers orientated.
He attributed this to the lack of belly hold space to accommodate large volumes of shipment. The current spaces only manage to cater to smaller planes, such as the A319 and A320.
Other setbacks include limited cargo trunk routes and connectivity and less competitive transshipment cargo rates.
"What we (proposed) to do is to obviously create more cargo capacity into Brunei," he said. He added that BIACC was also looking into inviting more airline companies, including cargo integrators that specialise in handling courier services, to use Brunei as their sub hub.
"By doing this, we can become a platform to support hubbing."
After the presentation, the minister was taken on a tour, focusing on the units of the daily operations of the centre. He spent a considerable amount of time in the bonded warehouse dubbed the "heart of the business", where a large percentage of cargoes is handled.
The minister observed the workers engaged in the building-up and breaking down of the cargoes.
He also took the opportunity to survey the facilities, such as the temperature controlled chiller and freezer and separate storage areas for valuable and dangerous goods.
A joint venture company established in 2000, BIACC began its operation in 2002, after taking over all BIA cargo operations in the same year.
It is a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Air Cargo Ground Council, and also Transported Assets Protection Association (TAPA) Asia.
The Brunei Times
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