1.    AIR OPERATIONS
2.    PORT OPERATIONS
3.    GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS)

AIR OPERATIONS

WFP-HAS to relocate its activities in Katanga

• WFP-HAS has terminated the Kinshasa- Goma- Entebbe- Goma- Kinshasa flight it used to operate twice a week with a Beech craft 1900. That flight used to alternatively stop over either in Mbandaka-Boende or Lubumbashi. Subject to funding granted through the CERF or the Pooled fund, that line could be resumed. For the time being, the date of resumption of these flights is not known yet.
• WFP-HAS is about to relocate its activities in Katanga, with a new air service which will be launched as from 26 June 2006. The aircraft that will be used will be of Cessna Caravan type with a capacity of 10 passengers. It will fly out of Lubumbashi to Mitwaba, Pweto, Dubie, Malemba Nkulu and Sampwe.
  
  The booking procedures are as follows:
  
  1. Announce the agency for which the traveller works
     If the organisation is not yet registered with WFP-HAS, please fill in the "Booking personnes autorisees" form. Only authorized staff members can book on behalf of their respective agencies.
     
  1. Fill in the booking form (UN and Non UN)
  2. Confirm the booking the day before the flight before 2.00 P.M
  All the booking forms are available on the UNJLC website via: http://www.unjlc.org/DRC/air_ops/
  Booking forms can be returned to Mr Roger Migabo (unhas.drc@wfp.org or roger.migabo-ntakobadjira@wfp.org, +243 081 715 06 78)
  
  That aircraft can be chartered by humanitarian agencies on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Further queries on chartering possibilities and prices can be addressed to Jean-Christophe Matter (jean-christophe.matter@wfp.org, + 243 81715 06 80) or Stig Larsson (stig.larsson@wfp.org, +243 81 080 78 07)
  
  

Humanitarian Air Transport Operators (HATOs) update

• Aviation Sans Frontieres France is expecting funding through the pooled fund which will enable to operate a caravan for three months duration. That aircraft will fly out of Mbandaka to Equateur localities, Kinshasa and Bangui.
  The service should start before the end of June, pending the granting of funds.
• Aviation Sans Frontieres (ASF) Belgique has received funding from ECHO to continue its activities in Ituri until the end of December 2006. ASF Belgique operates with a Cessna 207 based in Bunia.
  ASF Belgique is considering a possible increase of its activities so as to operate in Equateur or Katanga.
• Air Serv International is still waiting for funding through the pooled fund in order to continue its activities in Goma. The Air Serv operation in Lubumbashi is funded until the end of August. Air Serv International flies out of Goma to Great Lakes and North- Katanga localities with two caravans and one Twin-Otter. Air Serv also operates with a grand caravan based in Lubumbashi. Scheduled services are proposed from Goma whereas the Lubumbashi based plane is for charter. 
• Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) operates with a grand caravan from Kinshasa to Bandundu (twice a week), Semendua area (once a week), Bas- Congo on Wednesday. The aircraft can be chartered for trips to other provinces of the DRC.
  MAF also operates a Caravan and a Cessna 206 out of Entebbe to Bunia (twice a week) and Bukavu- Kisangani.
  

Survey of humanitarian air transport demand

• UNJLC has conducted a survey of the air transport demand of the humanitarian community. This was done through a questionnaire sent to more than 300 people. The said questionnaires were returned by 12 UN agencies, 28 NGOs and 2 embassies. The monthly demand amounts to 2,350 passengers, 117,219 Kg of cargo on 147 different destinations.
• Those figures will be compared to the humanitarian air transport operator routings and capacity to assess to what extent the demand matches the offer.
  

Follow up of the Air safety evaluation

• From 5th to 12th of June, UNJLC has visited the six air carriers who were evaluated in December 2005 in order to assess the implementation of the recommendations made by IATA experts.
  Three out of the six evaluated air carriers shall be ready in July for the post-evaluation, two others will be ready in September and the date when the last air carrier will be ready is not predictable for the time being. The Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr Ross Mountain, is willing UNJLC to proceed the post evaluation of at least two air companies in order to increase the limited resources for the next coming months, at a time most of MONUC aircrafts are dedicated to transport electoral items countrywide.
• Pending confirmation of EUEOM (European Union electoral observer's mission) to hire three aircrafts for the transportation of 150 electoral observers, UNJLC may conduct the post evaluation around mid July. Discussions are ongoing with the Humanitarian Coordinator to arrange the schedule.
• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will audit the DRC Civil Aviation Authority (Direction de l'Aéronautique Civile- DAC) at the end of June. A previous audit took place in 2001 and had prompted the United Kingdom as well as the European Union to put DRC on its blacklist. 
• Another audit of the DRC Civil Aviation Authority and air carriers willing to participate in the exercise will be carried out by the European Union in June. Many air carriers have expressed their willingness to be audited in order to verify if they comply with the standards required to transport European passengers.
  

PORT OPERATIONS

Strike at seaport of Matadi

• The staffs of Office National des Transports (ONATRA), a public enterprise which manages the port infrastructure has started a strike on Monday 8 June to claim their arrears of salary. The situation at the ports of Matadi and Boma is at a standstill. On 12 June, In Matadi, 3 ships had not been unloaded since the beginning of the strike. In Boma, 13 ships were riding at anchor.
• That strike should have negative consequences on the humanitarian cargo supply chain since Matadi is the main point of entry for the west of DRC. 
  

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS)

The GIS Working Group in partnership with national & international institutions

• UNJLC met with CICOS (Commission Internationale du Bassin Congo-Oubangui- Sangua) to install the common geo- database. CICOS has in return provided a comprehensive report on waterways infrastructure conditions. That information will enable to update the common geo-database hosted by UNJLC for the time being.
• Atlas Logistique and UNJLC are considering a possible cooperation in the acquisition of GPS data on road infrastructure. Indeed, Atlas Logistique is involved in road rehabilitation projects in the provinces of Katanga and Bas Congo.
  

Availability of the database and training

• UNJLC aim is to sensitize the humanitarian community in the possible use of the common database. In that respect, the GIS officer conducted a mission in Goma on 19- 26 May to present the GIS project during CPIA, logistics cluster and the weekly OCHA information meetings. NGOs and agencies interested in the GIS project have been identified and the database, digital maps as well as viewer software were installed on their computers. A similar mission should be conducted in Lubumbashi in July. 
• The underlying objective is also to identify the partners who can participate in the enrichment of the common database. They would provide information and data that would be entered in the database and in return UNJLC would restore that information through mapping.
• A two days sensitization and training session was organized on 5 and 6 June 2006 in Kinshasa by UNJLC and the French technical cooperation.  Staff members from eight congolese institutions attended the session.
  

Mapping

All the maps drawn by UNJLC DRC are available online via http://www.unjlc.org/DRC/maps/

• The following UNJLC maps have been updated:
• The map of Ituri district, updated with information collected by MONUC during an evaluation mission of the district.  A version which allows 3D display is also available upon request. 
• The map of Katanga and the map of road rehabilitation projects.