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UK firm establishing regional cargo hub in Montego Bay
published: Friday | February 23, 2007 <DIV class=KonaBody j4lQv="true">
Meredith Hypolite Derby of MGO Consult and Andrew King of ANA Aviation Services in discussion during a Financial Gleaner interview at the Hilton Kingston hotel February 16. ANA is building out a regional cargo hub in Montego Bay. MGO is one of its local partners. - photo by Susan Gordon
Susan Gordon, Business Reporter
London-based cargo handlers, ANA Aviation Services, has expanded to Jamaica with plans to build out a regional cargo hub in Montego Bay to transit goods from South and Central America into Europe.
ANA has partnered with Jamaican company MGO Consult and Training, run by aviation business consultant Meredith Hypolite Derby, on its cargo operations here and is in talks with a second local partner, said operations director Andrew King.
Through its newly registered local company, Montego Bay Cargo Hub Holdings Limited (MBCHH), ANAwill establish a cold storage facility for perishables at the Sangster International Airport for goods to be transited to the United Kingdom.
"There's so much cargo between here and Europe," said King, "around 60 to 80 tonnes per week."
Said Hypolite Derby: "We are hoping to generate 24,000 kilogrammes per week, as a start, which is significantly more than what Montego Bay is doing, especially since Montego Bay has been on the decline."
The target translates to just under 1.25 million kilogrammes per year.
Planning Institute figures support assertions of a depressed cargo market. In 2005, Sangster's moved 4.55 million kilogrammes of cargo, down from 2004's 5.49 million kg. Sangster and Norman Manley International together moved 19.4 million kilogrammes, down from 21.3 million in 2004.
King on a visit to Jamaica last week said the cold storage should be in place by October. He declined to specify the size of the investment, but said the two refrigerated units would have combined storage capacity of 12,000 kilogrammes.
Offices open for business
The MBCHH offices, located in proximity to the airport, is already open for business.
ANA, which handles international cargo for Thomsonfly and Jetairfly, carriers that already fly into Montego Bay, is also expected to set up operations in Dominican Republic in May.
Sangster International, Jamaica's largest airport with 140 flights per day, is currently without a cold storage facility, even with the ongoing multi-billion expansions by consortium MBJ Airports Limited. Such a facility however is zoned in the airport's land use plans.
The airport managers have designated space on the restricted air side of Sangster's for ANA's units, which are intended mainly for overnight agricultural cargo coming from Central America and destined for the United Kingdom, but the plan requires sign off by local regulators Civil Aviation Authority, said
MBJ's David Solloway, director of marketing and commercial development.
"We are renegotiating and looking at a cold storage facility but no decision has been made," Solloway told the Financial Gleaner. "We are talking to several people."
CAA's Flight and Safety Division told the Financial Gleaner that it would need to ensure that the facility won't compromise airport and airline safety and security.
The UK company, headquartered at London's Gatwick Airport, said it took over management of the Jamaican leg of Thomsonfly and Jetairfly's cargo movements just last week.
Thomsonfly and Jetairfly owned by TUI Group, the UK's largest holiday and tour company represent a number of Latin American carriers that fly San Juan, Puerto Rico; Dominican Republic; and San Jose, Cost
published: Friday | February 23, 2007 <DIV class=KonaBody j4lQv="true">
Meredith Hypolite Derby of MGO Consult and Andrew King of ANA Aviation Services in discussion during a Financial Gleaner interview at the Hilton Kingston hotel February 16. ANA is building out a regional cargo hub in Montego Bay. MGO is one of its local partners. - photo by Susan Gordon
Susan Gordon, Business Reporter
London-based cargo handlers, ANA Aviation Services, has expanded to Jamaica with plans to build out a regional cargo hub in Montego Bay to transit goods from South and Central America into Europe.
ANA has partnered with Jamaican company MGO Consult and Training, run by aviation business consultant Meredith Hypolite Derby, on its cargo operations here and is in talks with a second local partner, said operations director Andrew King.
Through its newly registered local company, Montego Bay Cargo Hub Holdings Limited (MBCHH), ANAwill establish a cold storage facility for perishables at the Sangster International Airport for goods to be transited to the United Kingdom.
"There's so much cargo between here and Europe," said King, "around 60 to 80 tonnes per week."
Said Hypolite Derby: "We are hoping to generate 24,000 kilogrammes per week, as a start, which is significantly more than what Montego Bay is doing, especially since Montego Bay has been on the decline."
The target translates to just under 1.25 million kilogrammes per year.
Planning Institute figures support assertions of a depressed cargo market. In 2005, Sangster's moved 4.55 million kilogrammes of cargo, down from 2004's 5.49 million kg. Sangster and Norman Manley International together moved 19.4 million kilogrammes, down from 21.3 million in 2004.
King on a visit to Jamaica last week said the cold storage should be in place by October. He declined to specify the size of the investment, but said the two refrigerated units would have combined storage capacity of 12,000 kilogrammes.
Offices open for business
The MBCHH offices, located in proximity to the airport, is already open for business.
ANA, which handles international cargo for Thomsonfly and Jetairfly, carriers that already fly into Montego Bay, is also expected to set up operations in Dominican Republic in May.
Sangster International, Jamaica's largest airport with 140 flights per day, is currently without a cold storage facility, even with the ongoing multi-billion expansions by consortium MBJ Airports Limited. Such a facility however is zoned in the airport's land use plans.
The airport managers have designated space on the restricted air side of Sangster's for ANA's units, which are intended mainly for overnight agricultural cargo coming from Central America and destined for the United Kingdom, but the plan requires sign off by local regulators Civil Aviation Authority, said
MBJ's David Solloway, director of marketing and commercial development.
"We are renegotiating and looking at a cold storage facility but no decision has been made," Solloway told the Financial Gleaner. "We are talking to several people."
CAA's Flight and Safety Division told the Financial Gleaner that it would need to ensure that the facility won't compromise airport and airline safety and security.
The UK company, headquartered at London's Gatwick Airport, said it took over management of the Jamaican leg of Thomsonfly and Jetairfly's cargo movements just last week.
Thomsonfly and Jetairfly owned by TUI Group, the UK's largest holiday and tour company represent a number of Latin American carriers that fly San Juan, Puerto Rico; Dominican Republic; and San Jose, Cost