Seafood shipper Asi Pudjiastuti is set to begin supplying live lobster around the region from July when it takes delivery of its first aircraft. The Java-based company signed a deal at the show yesterday to buy two Grand Caravans from Cessna, making it the first Caravan owner in Indonesia.
Until now the company has only dealt in frozen fish. This first foray into air-freighted distribution will change its whole operation and will mean it can transport seafood from Java to Singapore in 12h.
The first Caravan will be delivered in July, the second following in October. The first will be deployed in Java to carry fish from remote coastal areas to Jakarta from where it can be transferred to international flights.
Operations manager Christian von Strombeck explains that the second Caravan will be based in Indonesia's eastern islands from where it can easily reach Darwin, northern Australia.
"We'll be using both aircraft daily. Each will transport between 1.5-3t of fish at a time. We'll have fish into Singapore in 12h.
"Our goal is to have fresh fish to Europe or Japan within 36h. It means we can move our business into the higher value fresh fish market", he says.
Cargo
Von Strombeck's wife Susi Pudjiastuti, owner of the company, joined Cessna vice-president marketing Phil Michel to ink the deal for the two $1.5 million aircraft.
Since the Caravan entered service in 1985, more than 1,400 of the type have been delivered. Other operators in the region include Shandong Airlines and China Northern Airlines. Both use the aircraft for cargo and passenger operations, making use of the aircraft's ability to take off on a 1,365ft (415m) runway and land in under 1,000ft.
MARK HANNANT
Source: Flight Daily News
