Jewel in the Nile

Panalpina Egypt has moved its country head office and 100% of its Cairo operations to the newly developed Cairo Cargo City at Cairo International airport. Panalpina is the first freight forwarding company to have its head office at the location. “Being in the heart of action and close to the government’s business related entities, such as the import and export authorities and the cargo terminals, will enable the team to serve our local and international customers better. Likewise, this will benefit our customers as the proximity to the cargo handling and customs clearance will make our day to day Air Freight operations more agile,” says Fouad A. Abou Elela, country head of Sales and Marketing.

Cairo International airport is the busiest in Egypt and serves as the primary hub for several airlines. At present, the total tonnage in and out of Cairo International Airport is approximately 290,000 tons per annum. Cairo Cargo City was built to provide state of the art facilities to support growth in cargo traffic through the airport. Encompassing an area of 150,000 m² including three main terminals – Export, Import and Express terminals – the facility can now accommodate more cargo traffic than the current capacity of Cairo Airport. The Export terminal includes a General Cargo zone and a Perishable Center with a total capacity of 240,000 tons/annum, while the Import terminal operates over an area of 12,837 m² with a General Cargo zone and Perishable Center that can handle a total tonnage of 90,000 tons/annum.

Panalpina has been present in Egypt since 1995 through its long-standing agent Afifi, which was acquired last year in order to help Panalpina expand its presence in the region. Panalpina has chosen to explore the Egyptian market believing there is ample opportunity for growth in a currently fragmented freight forwarding industry. The acquisition of Afifi was the latest milestone in the company’s strategic expansion in emerging economies.

Panalpina sees the greatest growth in Egypt in the oil and gas, capital projects, telecom, automotive and healthcare sectors. Egypt, with a population of almost 90 million people, is the largest non-OPEC oil producer in Africa and the second-largest dry natural gas producer on the continent. The Egyptian government has stepped up efforts in recent years to encourage the exploration of oil and gas, in particular in the Nile delta, which begins approximately 20 km north of Cairo.

Panalpina Egypt employs 145 staff in three offices across Egypt, which are located in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez/Sokhna. The core competencies of Panalpina’s Egyptian branch include freight forwarding, customs clearance and project services. With a balanced product split between air and ocean, Panalpina Egypt will focus on serving the main industry verticals such as Healthcare, Consumer, Retail, Fashion, Manufacturing and Technology.

The new head office and Business Unit Cairo has been operational since August 13th 2016 at the following address:

Cargo Village Street,
Cairo Cargo City,
In front of current CACC facility,
CT1 Building Cairo International Airport.
Tel: 02-020 6460 10/11/12/13/14/15
Fax: 02-020 6460 16