Abstract This article examines the economics of Africa's emerging air cargo supply chains, taking floriculture as a case study. Floriculture is an important employer, and earner of foreign exchange for several regions of central/southern and eastern Africa including more recently Ethiopia. Air transportation often plays a critical role when the supply-chain involves high-value, non-durable, relatively light-weight, and compact consignments such as flowers, and geographically when regions are difficult to access by other trunk modes. The success of air cargo chains, however, depend as much on the quality of surface modes serving various “last mile” access and egress functions, as well as efficient nodal interchange points and the availability of suitable airport and airline capacity. The last, because of the important role of belly-hold space, includes consideration of passenger as well as cargo specific services. To meet the needs of Africa's floriculture sector, a variety of supply-chain models have emerged that embrace air and surface links, as well as storage at various points in the chain. The paper considers the nature of these chains, the reason d'être for their structures, and their limitations.

中文翻译：

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非洲花卉空运供应链的经济学

摘要 本文以花卉栽培为案例研究了非洲新兴航空货运供应链的经济学。花卉业是非洲中部/南部和东部几个地区（包括最近的埃塞俄比亚）的重要雇主和外汇收入来源。当供应链涉及鲜花等高价值、非耐用、相对轻量且紧凑的托运货物时，以及在其他干线模式难以进入的地区时，航空运输通常起着关键作用。然而，航空货运链的成功在很大程度上取决于提供各种“最后一英里”进出功能的地面运输方式的质量，以及高效的节点换乘点以及合适的机场和航空公司运力的可用性。最后，因为保腹空间的重要作用，包括对乘客和货物特定服务的考虑。为满足非洲花卉业的需求，出现了各种供应链模式，包括空中和地面链接以及链中不同点的存储。本文考虑了这些链的性质、它们结构的原因以及它们的局限性。