On April 13 United launches weekly services from Washington IAD to both Guatemala City (GUA) and San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO). SJO also gets weekly service April 13 from Chicago O'Hare. Flights are subject to government approval.
     United serves Guatemala City and San Jose from the airline's hubs in New York and Houston. On May 1 UA connects Newark Liberty International Airport and Edmonton, Alberta, with six times weekly via Airbus A319 aircraft. New service between UA's Washington Dulles hub and Vancouver, British Columbia, begins June 8 using Boeing 737-800 aircraft. This service operates Saturdays and Sundays through August 25, 2013. United serves Vancouver year-round from Chicago, Denver, Houston, and San Francisco, and seasonally from New York-Newark.

     Sibusiso Peter-Paul Ngwenya spent plenty of time disturbing the peace, blowing up rail lines, and otherwise caused all manner of disruption in South Africa during Apartheid before becoming a force in South African shipping in 2013.
     “I wasn’t easy,” said the Johannesburg-based 58-year-old Peter Paul.
     “I spent seven years of a fifteen-year sentence in jail with Nelson Mandela and was not released from Robben Island until 1991.”
     Robben Island was first used as a political prison in the mid-17th century, a place that housed convicts, slaves, and indigenous people who would not adhere to colonial rule.
     For 30 years (from 1961-1991) it was used as a maximum-security prison for apartheid fighters.
     It is now a museum where visitors can see the 7-by-9-foot cell that held Nelson Mandela, a room that Mandela wrote about in Long Walk to Freedom:
     “When I lay down, I could feel the wall with my feet and my head grazed the concrete on the other side.”
     Today, Peter Paul’s selfless patriotism to South Africa has developed into several business ventures, including Engen, South African Breweries, and the investment company Makana Trust, where he is a founding trustee and former chairman.
     He later co-founded Makana Investment Corporation, of which he is the current executive chairman.
Peter-Paul is the treasurer of the Ex-Political Prisoners Committee.
     He is also the chairman of South African Airlink, radio stations Heart 104.9 and Igagasi 99.5, and Sebenza Forwarding and Shipping Consultancy.
     “You know,” Peter Paul confided, “we have a real challenge with our forwarding business.
     “When Apartheid ended and the balance of business ownership and positions in various companies came to be more racially representative of more than 80 percent of the population, the move was to put people in positions they may have been less than qualified to hold.
     “Consequently, I am constantly looking for management-level expertise that is willing and qualified to both work and make a career in South Africa while we build our cargo infrastructure and expand our transportation expertise today and for future generations.
     “Our business in 2012 was not that good; in fact, we struggled.
     “But there are lots of opportunities in South Africa,” Peter Paul insisted.
     “Part of our problem is that there are so few trained people.
     “We have lost key people to various factors, including to the competition, so replacement is quite difficult.
     “South Africa is a major trading partner to other African countries, including, for example, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
     “With continued interest in the African market from everywhere else in the world, the talent pool for logistics personnel is greatly challenged for everyone at home.”
     Looking ahead, Peter Paul has just put the finishing touches on an autobiography of his life.
     Here is a man whose life began in poverty and repression, who has now blossomed into generating business and creating civic greatness in his homeland.
     His pride and strength were instantly recognizable just in talking to him.
     It is too easy to overlook people like Peter Paul, because they make what they do look so simple.
     His vision of a thousand tomorrows reveals a quiet hero and unlimited hope for South Africa.
Geoffrey/Flossie

Peter Paul Ngwenya recently funded and produced a narrative recalling his time in jail on Robben Island in a new book titled The Lighter Side of Robben Island.      Despite the vicious apartheid system that plagued South Africa for decades, as time marched on and Robben Island becomes a popular tourist destination, this first-hand narrative captures the resilience of the powerless and a community’s ability to maintain its collective zest for life.      The stories told here are wonderful and inspiring tales of the human spirit,of facing the worst that can happen and living long enough to laugh about it.      Click here for more. Geoffrey

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FIATA President Stanley Lim, (left) and Andrew Kemp, (right) Regional Director TT Club (Award Sponsor) present the Young International Freight Forwarder of the Year award to Daniel Terbille of UTi South Africa in Los Angeles in October 2012.

t may be more than coincidental that as Air Cargo Africa met in Johannesburg in 2013, a young international freight forwarder won FIATA’s 14th Annual Young International Forwarder Of The Year (YIFFA) in 2012 for his written dissertation, which referenced South Africa.
     Daniel Terbille’s award-winning study dealt with the challenging fashion apparel environment in South Africa, characterized by rapid changes in demand patterns.


     “Suppliers can only respond effectively to changes,” he wrote, “and deal with cost constraints, if they are supported by the supply chain and the transportation products deployed therein.”
     Daniel developed a multimodal product that he applied in such situations.
     The product met the need for both rapid response to changes in the marketplace and cost containment.
     Aside from the utilization of freight forwarding products, he advocated the understanding of trade agreements and customs legislation, both of which in certain circumstances further reduce cost within the chain.
     Daniels dissertation showed how South Africa’s customs legislation, and the country’s trade, development, and cooperation agreement with Europe, could bring about significant cost and liquidity improvements.
     Aside from focusing on responsiveness and cost, Daniel systematically introduced an additional dimension to the management of supply chains: that of environmental protection.
     Finally, Daniel also pointed out how growing opportunities for exports into African countries could be maximized in a South African retail context.


     “I studied Retail Management with a strong focus on Supply Chain Management before I fell in love with the magnificent country of South Africa a couple of years ago’, Daniel said.
     “Cape Town has been my home ever since and through UTi South Africa (Pty) Ltd I was given countless opportunities, which sparked my enthusiasm for the freight forwarding industry.
     “Through both my studies and the employment with UTi I developed a strong passion for our industry and the broader field of Supply Chain Management.
     “Last year’s FIATA YIFFA topic provided the opening to combine both fields, which I believe are closely interlinked.”


     “Every supply chain is driven by what an organization intends to achieve in the marketplace.
     In view of both market- and cost-related pressure it is becoming ever more important for freight forwarding companies to understand their clients’ market-related requirements.
     These determine the strategic direction of a supply chain and consequently should dictate the use of those freight forwarding products that support the supply chain strategy and, in turn, the goals to be attained in the marketplace.
     In this context, it must be mentioned that the basis for future competition is supply chain versus supply chain and not organization versus organization.
     All organizations within that chain are co-dependent as they serve the same end consumer.
     Supply chains and the forwarding products deployed therein must hence be aligned with the end consumer.
     “In my current position as Senior Key Accounts Manager here, I apply this methodology by developing and positioning initiatives and freight forwarding products for South African retail clients, which are based on how the retailer aims to maximize value to the end consumer, which in turn leads to competitive advantage.”

     
     “Retailers are continually faced with both market- and cost-related pressure in their pursuit for competitive advantage.
     “As a result, customer value must be maximized and costs minimized at the same time.
Geoffrey

     “Air Cargo Africa moved from the distant to up-close and personal as the show organizers surprised me with the Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Grand Master Issa Baluch.
     “That sort of kept me in an awkward position.
     “They think I have done a bunch for the industry, while I feel there are many who continue to do more.
     “The conference was quite good and real live issues were discussed.
     “Africa is growing almost in every direction.
     “Intra-trade is one that caught my attention as growth is 20 percent. Intra-trade represents just a meager 5 percent of the total GDP.
     "The shocker is the laws are still archaic and were barely workable in the 20th century, let alone the 21st.
     “Protectionism and high royalties is still endemic.
     “My view is it is vital to step up to 21st century operations.
     “While the conference tackled many issues which were spot on, I feel they should have issued a communiqué at the conclusion of the conference that can be used to signal to policy makers what brewed at the conference.
     “We who love this business can only advance such a proposal…"
     Honorarium aside, what Issa said after last week’s visit to Johannesburg gives credence to the notion that it is still always better to give than to receive.
     “There is a need for new institutions in Africa to train and support farmers as entrepreneurs; to facilitate the effective participation of private investors, management professionals, agronomists, researchers, and students as well as other actors,” said Issa Baluch. He serves as chairman at Africa Atlantic, an organization that says it will create a non-profit, agribusiness training center in Ghana in association with MIT and the Harvard Kennedy School.
     For the past few years Issa has been teaching at Harvard.
     “Africa Atlantic will provide land and facilities, MIT will focus on engineering and management sciences, and the Science Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School will focus on innovative public policy frameworks and strategies.
     “Additional academic institutions and select private businesses and NGOs from Africa, North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, are also being invited to collaborate in the Center,” Issa said.
     “The Agribusiness Knowledge Center will help create African farming entrepreneurs and will serve as a catalyst for greater coordination of practitioners, along with leaders from government and civil society and private investors to share ideas, transfer knowledge, and build the capacity of Africans to compete effectively and efficiently in the global marketplace.”
     We think the power of determination and dedication to help others as demonstrated by this ex-air cargo guy should encourage all of us to get involved beyond the hotels and meeting halls at the myriad of air cargo trade shows every year.
     More: www.africaatlantic.com.
Geoffrey

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