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Uganda Airlines to give local suppliers preference in $95 million procurement spend

Published

5 months ago

July 3, 2024

Uganda Airlines is looking into measures to help local suppliers get a larger share of the $95 million it wants to spend on procurement during the 2024–2025 fiscal year. The funds will be divided between works, services, and supplies.

By the end of 2024, the national carrier anticipates reaching the 700,000 passenger mark thanks to increases in capacity and frequency on important routes. At the airline’s inaugural supplier event this week in Kampala, where local suppliers were briefed on both current and upcoming prospects at the flag carrier, the numbers were revealed.

In the five years that the airline has been in business, local contracts have paid out Ush120 billion ($32.3 million), according to Chief Executive Officer Jenifer Bamuturaki. The database of local suppliers has expanded to 200. She also bemoaned, meanwhile, the difficulties the airline has had maintaining consistency and quality, which has frequently compelled it to import goods that might be made domestically.

According to Ms Bamuturaki, local suppliers must consider being globally competitive for their expansion to assist the carrier’s cargo operations and domestic export market.

The demand for onboard consumables is rising as the airline expands its network and the number of passengers rises, according to her, with 90% of them coming from local vendors.

Uganda Airlines anticipates reporting 480,000 passengers flown during fiscal year 2023–2024, based on preliminary figures. Nonetheless, it is anticipated that there would be roughly 700,000 passengers in 2024.

The network, which currently has 13 destinations, is growing due to up-gauging aircraft on regional routes, increasing frequency on important routes, and network development. The airline expanded its fleet in May by adding a leased A320 with 156 seats.

In addition to making space for additional frequencies, the aircraft has allowed the carrier to meet the increasing demand on routes like Nairobi, Kinshasa, and Johannesburg.

Nairobi, which is now served sixteen times a week, will expand to two flights a week starting in July. That is three flights each day, six days a week, excluding Saturday. There will be six instead of five days per week in Kinshasa, and four more days of double daily flights in Juba, for a total of nine flights per week.

After severing ties with Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam will now run five flights per week instead of just one. Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar will now be combined, with three weekly flights between the two locations.

“We remain committed to working with you to expand the range of products that you can supply on competitive terms. But we also want you to grow with us by transforming into globally competitive companies that can supply quality products not just Uganda Airlines but the global legacy airlines.”

“But you will need to concentrate effort on improving quality across packaging, consistency in taste and supply,” Ms Bamuturaki said.

She further stated that because its suppliers will help fill the cargo capacity, the company—which plans to start a specialized freighter service—sees their success as essential to its sustainable expansion.

She also directed them toward new growth opportunities, such as planting feedstock for energy firms as the first step in the sustainable aviation fuel value chain.

Related Topics:Featured Uganda Uganda Airlines

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Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.

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Dangote refinery begins petroleum sales to West Africa

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In an indication to traders that the activities of its mega-refinery might soon disrupt regional fuel markets, Nigeria’s private Dangote Petroleum Refinery has started exporting refined petroleum products to neighbouring West African nations.

According to a Bloomberg story on Tuesday, a tanker had transported a consignment of petrol from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery to seas off the coast of Togo, a nearby West African nation. The article cited data from Vortexa, Kpler, Precise Intelligence, a port report, and a ship-tracking tool.

According to the source, a CL Jane Austen recently departed west after loading over 300,000 barrels from Dangote.

Recall that Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Authority, stated last month that the nation is thinking of purchasing petroleum products from the Dangote refinery in order to reduce the approximately $400 million it spends each month on more costly exports from Europe.

Speaking at the OTL Africa Downstream Oil Conference in Lagos, the chairman of NPA, Ghana, said that by eliminating freight expenses, buying from Nigeria instead of Europe will lower the cost of other products and services.

“If the refinery reaches 650,000bpd a day capacity, all that volume cannot be consumed by Nigeria alone, so instead of us importing as we do right now from Rotterdam, it will be much easier for us to import from Nigeria and I believe that will bring down our prices,” Hamid said.

Two weeks ago, it was announced that the refinery would start exporting fuel to Namibia, Angola, and South Africa. Four more African nations—Niger Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Central Africa Republic—had also begun talks with the refinery, it was said.

According to a very reliable source who spoke directly to one of our reporters, the management of the refinery with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day was in the advanced stages of negotiations with the nations to begin lifting petroleum.

“I can confirm to you that talks are actually at the advanced stage with Ghana, Angola, Namibia, and South Africa, while the initial discussion is coming up with Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic,” the source said.

The petroleum product shipment is currently floating off the coast of Lome, which is a well-liked location for ship-to-ship transfers, according to the source.

Furthermore, the final destination of the cargo of the CL Jane Austen is uncertain.

Despite being off Togo, the region is frequently utilised for ship-to-ship transfers, thus the gasoline may eventually be transported elsewhere.

“While the shipment is tiny in the context of the global gasoline market, it signals the ramp-up of Dangote’s production and the potential to export significant volumes of gasoline beyond Nigeria, which could upend regional markets.”

Last month, the refinery sent its first shipment of petrol by sea to Lagos, a neighbouring commercial centre.

Under the regulatory statute, the Federal Government last month terminated the state-owned oil company’s monopoly on purchasing gasoline from the plant for domestic use, but it has permitted the ongoing importation of fuel from the US and Europe.