Plenty of room to expand Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is ready to take more business, although it already sits at number three
in Europe in terms of air cargo passing through the Continent’s gateways. Plus, the Netherlands – small in size but big in scope when it comes to logistics – is seeking to do more in terms of air freight flows
T
here remains plenty of potential for expansion both in the air and on the ground at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, considers Saskia van Pelt, Schiphol cargo director - business
development. “Schiphol still has a broad portfolio of first
(airside), second and third-line plots that are available for air cargo and logistic activities,” she suggested. Developments at Schiphol form part of a
wider programme of logistics improvements being made in the Dutch capital. Van Pelt explained: “Amsterdam Connecting Trade
(ACT) is Europe’s most innovative and sustain- able logistics hub, located strategically at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and close to Ams- terdam city centre. “ACT is all about efficient freight transport
by air, road, rail and water. Sustainable solu- tions are key to the design of new buildings and to the development of the ACT area as a whole. “The area’s various business parks can
accommodate the full gamut of logistics and associated companies. ACT provides an arena in which logistics companies pursue shared interests, making it more than simply a business location, but a meeting place for people, goods
and information,” she pointed out. Plus: “ACT has just launched its first five hectares on the market,” van Pelt noted. Another initiative involving
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and that has a role in ACT is the Europe-wide CAREX rail- way project. “March brought the first test run conducted with the high speed cargo train,” she observed. “Schiphol Area Develop-
ment Company is working hard as a project member of EuroCAREX group to take this project to the next level. Ams- terdam CAREX is part of the Amsterdam Connecting Trade development. Within ACT, public and private parties are working together to develop Amsterdam CAREX. “These parties have joined forces in the ini-
van Pelt: “ACT is all about efficient freight transport”
Inspections Centre, where every company can have its cargo scanned; a mobile scanning device, that can go to all compa- nies to scan air cargo shipments; or a remote scanning device. “Dutch Customs is working
on the final design of the central facility, while the mobile facility already exists. The decentralised option is currently under discus- sion with the handling agents, to iron out final technical and pro- cedural details.” As for the efreight@NL pro-
ject: “A new platform is being developed that will be able to convert any format of docu-
tiative group HST-Cargo, which comprises the Province of Noord-Holland, the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, KLM Cargo, Air Cargo Netherlands (ACN), Jan de Rijk, Menzies, AM, Schiphol Group, AMB Property Europe, Schiphol Express, Nederland Distributieland, VGB, the Chamber of Commerce, Flora Hol- land (Aalsmeer Flower Auction), Interport and Schiphol Area Development Company.” Another series of improvements at Schiphol
concerns Smartgate, which is all about collabo- ration with Dutch Customs to speed trade flows while ensuring maximum security. According to van Pelt: “It has been decided to offer three options to air freight companies at AMS: a joint
ment (paper or digital) into the appropriate standards for e-freight. Fortunately, the number of e-freight shipments at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has been growing fast since the start of the project in 2010,” she remarked. “A new pilot has been started by ACT called
eLink – this is a fully streamlined digital process for all cargo documents that registers all cargo handling and hand-over events through a Smart Card. This new way of document handling not only advances the paperless shipping process, it also allows for a saving of 25 percent in throughput time. “IATA has requested ACN to see whether a
pilot project could be started regarding the implementation of the e-cargo security declara- tion. Under the umbrella of efreight@NL, a number of parties have been approached to set up a pilot. Currently, this is still a work in progress,” van Pelt concluded.
High demand for equine transportation
Edwin Hofstede, director of Amsterdam-based livestock sales agent specialist Euro- pean Cargo Services, confirms that since ceasing its weekly flights from Schiphol to San José in Costa Rica in April 2011, client carrier Mar- tinair has flown two part charters on the route. The most recent of these
flights took place on 11 July and carried 32 horses in eight stalls, he said. Speaking the day before
the flight took place, Hofstede pointed out: “We will fly the horses in our collapsible stalls, so it is easy to get the stalls back to Amsterdam.” He noted that demand for the transportation of horses from Amsterdam to San José is very high, with approximately 325 of the animals being flown on the route each year.
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16 July 2012
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