Port Moresby freight hub route map. Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.
Source: CENTRE FOR ASIA
PACIFIC AVIATION
Sydney – Growing demand for air freight capacity to cater to Papua New Guinea’s booming resources sector and seafood exports appear to have encouraged carriers Qantasand Skyforce to apply for dedicated freight allocations.
They are seeking this from the Australian International Air Services Commission.
Qantas through its subsidiary Express Freighters Australia and Sydney-basedSkyforce Aviation have applied to the IASC for a total of 53 tonnes of freight capacity per week each way on the Australia-Papua New Guinea route. A total of 77.5 tonnes capacity per week in each direction is currently available under the bilateral air services agreement between the countries which allows for a total of 100 tonnes per week.
Currently Pacific Air Express has the market to itself after HeavyLift Cargo Airlines collapsed in 2012. The state of Queensland is a major source of supplies for PNG’s mining sector, while also serving as a transit point for some of the country’s Japan-bound fresh tuna exports.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
PNG’s economy is riding the crest of a natural resource boom including oil, gas, copper, gold and nickel which accounts for nearly two-thirds of export earnings.
A massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facility being developed by a consortium led by American oil company Exxon Mobil is expected to start production in 2014, exploiting PNG’s natural gas reserves estimated at 155 billion cubic meters.
The LNG plant is the largest investment project in PNG’s history and has the potential to double GDP in the near term and triple the country’s export revenue, according the CIA World Factbook.
Research by ANZ Bank indicates that PNG’s natural resources sector could quadruple by 2030, producing USD25 billion in annual export revenues. The country’s economic growth is being driven by the urbanisation and industrialisation of Asia, ANZ CEO Mike Smith told the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Feb-2013. PNG’s prosperity is being underpinned by a super cycle in mining and energy, and increasingly agriculture.
Several mining new mining developments or expansions are also under consideration, largely replacing existing projects where production has peaked.
FISHERIES CENTRE
In addition PNG has a burgeoning fishing industry. PNG’s 2.5 million square kilometre exclusive economic zone (EEZ) contains about 18% of the world’s total tuna stocks.
About 750,000 tonnes of tuna is caught in PNG’s EEZ each year, most of which is landed and processed in other countries. However, PNG has a long term goal of processing in-country all of the tuna caught within its EEZ.
Four new processing plants are planned for a 215 hectare fisheries industrial zone near Malahang with the first due to open in Jun-2013.