Daily Independent Online.
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Friday, August 13, 2004.
SAHCOL handles 12.7m tonnes of cargo
By Shola Ogunode
Aviation Reporter, Lagos
The Skypower
Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) has continued to justify its
existence as an aviation parastatal, autonomously run for five years, even as
it is reported to have handled more than 12.7 million tonnes of cargo last
year.
A breakdown of
the available statistics showed that imported cargo topped the list with
10,482,271 tonnes, while courier came second with significant 2,099,311 tonnes.
Interestingly,
exported cargo occupied the impressive third position with 1,275,378 tonnes
within the year under review. Further breakdown of the figure showed that
SAHCOL handled the highest tonnage of 1,577,847 cargos in August, last year,
with import accounting for 1,261,357, courier attracted 162,405 tonnes while
export stood at 154,115 tonnes. However, the company experienced a lull in
business in February 2003, hence it recorded the lowest volume of 644,118
tonnage of cargo during the same period.
Efforts to
ascertain in monetary terms the value of its operations proved abortive, as it
is yet to be made public.
Established in
October 1999, as an autonomous subsidiary company of the liquidated Nigeria
Airways Limited (NAL), SAHCOL currently handles over 20 domestic and foreign
airlines, operating within the country.
