Serving a wide logistics market The Dutch city is a multimodal freight gateway and at the hub of its supply chain wheel is the rapidly recovering Amsterdam Airport Schiphol R
esults have been up pretty solidly since November, despite a dip in April due to the ash cloud, says
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol senior vice president cargo Enno Osinga. “On average this year we
have been about 22 percent up on last year. We’re not at pre- recession levels yet but we’re getting close. I would expect to ... be back on track next year.” Themain driver of the rise in
Schiphol’s freight traffic is Asia. “What’s interesting is that there’s significant growth in vol- umes from Asia to Europe, but double that growth from Europe to Asia, so the gap between inbound and outbound traffic is nar- rowing,” Osinga observed, citing the rise of Asia’s middle classes and efforts by the Chinese government to stimulate imports as factors. He added: “Asian carriers seem to be estab-
Osinga: “The industry is regaining confidence”
future, Schiphol is “working to improve our multimodality”. Through its close relationship with the ports at Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the airport is aiming to create a multimodal hub. As part of this process, the
ports’ information system Port- base is to be integrated with Schiphol’s Cargonaut software so that forwarders “can opti- mise ocean and air using a single goods flow management system and a single ware- house”, Osinga explained. “The key to a multimodal system is to have the whole
portfolio – air, rail, road, inland waterways and ocean – so that forwarders can integrate and optimise,” he said. Schiphol also has ambitious plans for expan-
lishing their European hub at Amsterdam, for example Jade Cargo... So the work of the last few years is now falling into place.” Work continues at the Dutch gateway, with
a new airside building for logistics provider Rhenus due to come on-stream in September. The warehouse has a footprint of 7,500m2 an extra 2,800m2 of office space.
with “We’re also having serious discussions about
more new airside facilities with a number of for- warders; the industry is regaining confidence, and beginning to invest again,” he considered. To capitalise on this and position itself for the
sion with its Amsterdam Connecting Trade (ACT) zone. “We are building new logistics parks, distribution centres and areas for other logistics activities. Our priority though is to change the road system to accommodate ACT and to improve traffic flow. Road congestion is a big focus in Europe,” Osinga remarked. Alongside this, Schiphol is trying to adhere
to increasingly complex security regulations in a way that minimises disruption to its partners. “We are currentlyworking on a detailed analysis of the ‘nuts and bolts’ of how the processes involved in our SmartGate project will work, identifying issues and finding solutions.We are starting the process of building a full Customs scanning facility to screen all trucks as they
Worldwide GSA is seekingmore capacity
Bob van ‘tWoud,managing director at Schiphol-based sales agentWorldwide GSA, says that this year is progressing “very, very well. There has been an increase in demand for cargo services into Brazil,” he enthused. “People are looking for capacity into São Paulo and Santiago, wanting tomove all kinds of dry cargo.” Frustratingly for him, however,Worldwide GSA does not have access to anymore
space to the region. The company is already filling the availablemain-deck capacity on itsMiami-based client, freighter operator Centurion Cargo. He is also looking for extra capacity on other sectors, having so far been unable to
find a replacement for Singapore-based B747 freighter operator Jett8 since the airline stopped flying into Europe. Nevertheless, “I have no complaints at all about how things are going this year,” van ‘tWoud concluded.
come in, which should be ready by early 2012,” he noted. Promoting Schiphol and Amsterdam as a
whole as a cargo gateway will be their hosting in November of the TIACA Air Cargo Forum (ACF). “All the signs are that it’s going to be the
bestACF yet,”Osinga insisted. “The floor space was fully booked and has been extended to accommodate more exhibitors. “It seems that people are saying to them-
selves that “industry is back, and this (ACF) is how we can establish ourselves’.”
19 July 2010
Page 7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16