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MALAYSIAN businessman Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, who wooed the world's biggest shipping company away from Singapore three years ago, is in advanced talks to convince the world's largest airfreight company, Lufthansa Cargo, to set up base at his Senai Airport in Johor, sources say.
Executives at Syed Mokhtar's Senai Airport Terminal Services (Seats) are keeping mum. When contacted, Thomas Eggert, regional director of sales at Lufthansa Cargo in Singapore, declined to confirm talk that it will move some of its operations from Singapore to Senai.
He said the company would 'provide a press statement in the coming weeks on this subject'. Mr Eggert - who oversees sales operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand - added it was 'premature' to provide any information at this juncture.
Contacted in Singapore, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said it would be premature to comment on speculation about the Lufthansa move.
It said Singapore currently has 68 airlines operating more than 3,250 weekly scheduled flights to 150 cities in 51 countries.
The authority handled 1.61 million tonnes of airfreight in 2003 and was ranked 4th for international airfreight movements in 2002, the latest year for which data is available.
The CAAS said in an e-mail response: 'It's a bit difficult for us to comment further without knowing what Lufthansa is going to say.'
It is still not known how a potential tie-up with Seats could affect Lufthansa Cargo's operations in Singapore or the WOW alliance, a grouping of the airfreight arms of several major airlines, of which Lufthansa Cargo is a member.
According to the WOW website, Lufthansa Cargo, part of the German Lufthansa Group, is the world's biggest airfreight carrier in turnover. Other members of the WOW alliance are the cargo arms of Singapore Airlines, the world's third biggest airfreight player, Scandinavian giant SAS and Japan Airlines.
Lufthansa Cargo's credentials are impressive. It handled 1.63 million tonnes of freight and mail in 2002, ahead of the 1.43 million tonnes shipped through Singapore in 2002.
The German carrier is also known for its cargo handling capability.
'The carrier is also very well recognised for transporting live animals of all kinds. As an example, in 2000, the airline flew almost all the horses to Australia for the Olympic Games in Sydney,' noted online magazine Airsider.
Lufthansa Cargo, established in 1994, is estimated to employ around 5,000 people worldwide, of whom about 40 are based in Singapore.
A senior company executive was previously reported to have said that Singapore plays a 'special role' in Lufthansa's operations as the island is an important hub for its cargo business in and out of Australia.
That 'special role' is not likely to dissuade Syed Mokhtar from pulling out all the stops to woo the German cargo carrier.
He is working overtime to transform the southern Malaysian state into a transportation and logistics hub to rival Singapore.
His efforts have paid off. Maersk Sealand, the world's largest shipping line, and Taiwan's Evergreen Marine have migrated from Singapore to the businessman's Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Johor in the last three years. But PSA has won back the biggest feeder shipping line customer, Bengal Tiger Lines, from Pelepas.
The loss of Maersk Sealand and Evergreen and the keener regional competition in the aviation business prompted a warning earlier this month from Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew. He said that Singapore will be 'diminished' if it loses its airhub status, and that the government will not let this happen.
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