Menzies still not releasing cargo at airport

The airport services company Menzies Aviation (Namibia) has still not released cargo being held in its warehouse at Hosea Kutako International Airport.

Cargo parcels have been in the warehouse since 18 August, when Menzies was evicted from the airport after Paragon Aviation Services took over ground handling services at Hosea Kutako International Airport.

Namibia Airports Company (NAC) spokesperson Dan Kamati said that despite several engagements, Menzies has not yet released the cargo to Paragon for release to cargo owners.

“The status quo of the cargo that was under Menzies’ control at the time of their eviction remains the same as reported last week and remains pressing for us at the moment,” said Kamati.
Several freight forwarding agents are now calling the NAC to force Menzies to release their parcels.

Maria Shatiwa, a freight forwarder, has been trying to get more than 50 parcels from Menzies’ warehouse.

She said most of the parcels belong to clients who have ordered goods to sell at the Ongwediva Annual Trade Fair that is currently under way.
“There is also medical equipment of clients, and I just don’t know what to do. People have paid for the services and they are becoming impatient,” she said.

Shatiwa has been going to the airport on a daily basis with the hope that the matter will be resolved.
Samuel Alberto, also an agent, added that apart from parcels at the airport, other cargo from China is now stuck in Doha, Qatar.
He says some of his clients are people who are getting married in a few weeks’ time.

“The delays are just too many. Apart from the arrival of parcels, we again have the Namra issue where they have to verify if the goods are counterfeit or original, and that also takes time. Things are really going south this time,” he said.

He added that cargo agents cannot get answers from Menzies, because the company does not have a representative at the airport, and they are now forced to channel their queries to South Africa.

“There we can only send emails, but no one responds to them,” he said.
Menzies’ vice president for South Africa and Namibia, Ian van Rooyen, has not responded to questions sent to him via email since last week.

Meanwhile, the airlines Eurowings Discover and Qatar Airways are both still not transporting cargo to or from Namibia, because Paragon is still awaiting accreditation for European-specific export cargo.

This accreditation (ACC3/RA3) is provided only after actual operations are observed by the person conducting the audit, which the company could not obtain prior to its ground handling service takeover.

Paragon Investment Holdings director Desmond Amunyela said the audit for RA3-approved cargo was done on the company’s operations and other parts of the airport a few weeks ago.

Amunyela was confident that the approval would be granted in a few days’ time as all requirements were in place.