SDV and sister company Bolloré Africa Logistics have announced the full commercial launch of the ‘Speed to Africa’ premium air-based logistics service between Europe and Africa, following a successful trial phase that began last November.
SDV’s commercial director Jean-Pascal Naud, said the service had more than demonstrated its market relevance during the test period.
“There is a significant level of investment going into Africa to fund infrastructure projects and the setting up of industrial sites and this is driving strong demand for time-critical shipments, which we are now able to meet with Speed to Africa,” he said.
The service is handling a broad range of products on a variety of routes – from industrial shipments to offshore drilling platforms in Angola and bottling plants in Nigeria to urgent medical supplies to Mali, Naud added.
As for return traffic to Europe, Naud said this would represent the second phase of development for the service.
“We’ve worked on ‘reverse logistics’ provision such as for faulty equipment that needs to be returned to Europe urgently for repair and then returned to Africa for re-integration into manufacturing processes,” he observed.
He declined to be drawn on the number of shipments that Speed to Africa could generate on a regular basis in both the short and long term. “But we are convinced that the need for this kind of service is set to rise in proportion to the current rate of economic growth in the countries targeted.”
Naud said the service was built on SDV’s expertise in express delivery and air freight and also on Bolloré Africa Logistics’ network, “which today is the most-developed on the African continent”.
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