ISSUE 1 2011


NETHERLANdS ‘We will make e-Freight work’


Amsterdam Airport Schiphol plans to steal a march on the technology front over its European rivals. Current major initiatives by the


Dutch hub, at present ranked the number three cargo airport in Europe with an anticipated 2010 throughput of around 1.5 million tonnes, include spearheading industry adoption of e-freight - the International Air Transport Association project to create paperless air cargo transport. In addition, the Schiphol SmartGate Cargo public/private initiative will focus on smoothing the overall flow of EU export cargo through airport. Moreover,


to further


strengthen its role as a key transhipment point for UK


longhaul air cargo in the longer term, the airport says it is now seriously looking at the possibility of developing high- speed rail connections through the Channel Tunnel. Those were some of the plans for future cargo business


Healthy outlook for UPS in Venlo


The Netherlands is a pivotal point in UPS’s recently expanded global healthcare distribution network. A new 20,000sq m facility at Venlo, in the strategic Limburg region of the country sandwiched between Germany and Belgium is one of four that will be brought on line by the logistics giant by the middle of the year, bringing its worldwide total dedicated healthcare space to over 370,000sq m. UPS in fact already has a similar healthcare site at nearby Roermond, which was virtually full after nine months. UPS’s director of healthcare strategy, Peter Bromley said that the attraction of the Netherlands rather than, say, Germany, was its strategic location, coupled with the country’s VAT advantages. “The Netherlands is a very effective area from which to serve the whole of the ‘blue banana’ (the densely populated swathe of Europe that stretches from England to northern Italy.) It’s also very well connected, to one of the world’s top three ports, as well as Antwerp and Schiphol airport.” UPS’s Cologne air hub and Herne ground hub are both less than an hour away and anywhere on UPS’s express air network can be reached within 24 hours with late cut offs. Much of Europe is in fact accessible with 24 hours by road. The fact that importers can


defer paying VAT on valuable pharmaceuticals without a lot of red tape is another major


attraction. Like UPS’s other healthcare facilities, Venlo will be a muliti- temperature, multi-user site with products stored in four temperature bands ranging from -70°C to 15-25°C. The healthcare industry in Europe has until recently been quite slow to adopt third-party distribution, though the trend is well underway in the US. However, it is now gathering pace in other parts of the world as more operators such as UPS build facilities that meet the strict certification requirements – and as pressures mount on European national healthcare budgets to find ways of doing things more cost effectively. Another trend has been triggered by the development of air and road transport technology that can be precisely temperature controlled throughout their journey, which has made it possible for one a single manufacturing site to serve a global market. Despite its strategic location,


there is no particular problem in obtaining sites in Limburg, adds Peter Bromley, although expansion of the existing Roermond facility was not possible due to site constraints. The new Venlo operation is on a logistics ‘campus’ and in fact it is now one of seven different UPS facilities in the area.


development at Schiphol outlined by Enno Osinga, the airport’s senior vice president cargo, when he spoke to FBJ correspondent, Phil Hastings in Amsterdam recently. His comments came just after Schiphol had highlighted its commitment to e-freight through the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Singapore’s Changi Airport stating that “both airports will facilitate and promote to their local supply chain the use and further development of paperless air cargo, creating a paperless trade lane”. Following that signing at the 25th International Air Cargo Forum in Amsterdam, Osinga explained that “in essence, what we have committed to here is to


make e-freight work”. He also claimed that “Schiphol will be the e-freight hub in Europe way before anybody else”. Another aspect of that push,


pointed out Osinga, was a project called ‘E-freight@NL’. With €1.2 million in subsidies from the Dutch national government and regional authorities, participants include airlines, forwarders and air cargo industry association Air Cargo Netherlands (ACN). SmartGate Cargo, which is


being backed by the airport, the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration and ACN, will develop new modules to speed cargo movements through the airport. Current modules include SmartGate ICT, which is designed to integrate existing information


technology systems; a Customs control centre to centralise the control and co-ordination of all government inspections by Customs; a detection lane to scan vehicles for all government and industry requirements; and a joint inspection and security centre combining physical government inspection with security screening. According to Osinga, the SmartGate project will help both airlines and forwarders at Schiphol. “The benefit for the airlines is that the earlier in the process you can bring in all the checkpoints, the less chance there is of any operational disruption,” he told FBJ. “Likewise, the earlier forwarders know which shipments they need to present


Top Group looks East


Top Group is a corner of Asia in Rotterdam. Founded by a Taiwanese national – who is based in Milton Keynes – its staff are as likely to pick up the phone in Cantonese as in English or Dutch. Management regularly field calls in the middle of the night from the Far East. There is in fact a substantial Asian community in Rotterdam. The forwarder caters especially for the heavier electronic items like


TVs and games consoles, many of them produced by Taiwanese-owned companies based in China, says manager of business development, Piet Koet. It has a warehouse in Waalhaven, but it would like to have premises nearer the river so that it can more easily use barge services. “It’s becoming easier and cheaper than trucking,” says Koet. “It’s something we’re investigating, maybe as a second terminal.” Top Group also makes extensive use of rail transportation, especially for longer distance moves to inland Europe, but this trade is handicapped by high tariffs to some destinations from Rotterdam. “People tell me that rail charges are expensive to some parts of east


Europe compared with Hamburg. Before, when things were very busy, we could compete with Hamburg because there was congestion there, but now there is less pressure.” While Rotterdam has a strong market share in the Netherlands itself and the Rhine borders, “in Munich and the Czech Republic, its share is ridiculously low. The rail operators tell me that they can’t go any lower, so we have customers who we simply cannot get.” The rail tariff differential cannot be explained by rail operating difficulties – if anything, the route from Rotterdam to these regions is more straightforward than from Hamburg – and there is plenty of competition on the rails within the Netherlands itself. The explanation probably lies in the rail tariffs charged within Germany. Rotterdam does have some advantages over other main European


ports, though. “It is often the first call in Europe, there is free detention of cargo for up to nine days and the barge connections are unbeatable,” says Koet.


Good things in small packages


Nestled at the southern end of one of Schiphol’s runways in Oude Meer, sister companies GFF Express Solutions and GFF Airfreight Solutions between them offer a complete range of airfreight and air courier services. The company dates back to 2008, and is the local representative of Far East-based Linex. Currently, the operation is managed by brothers Rolf and Achim


van der Graaff, but the latter is shortly to become cargo manager for Emirates in the Netherlands. When the latter leaves, all activity will be transferred to GFF Express. Meanwhile, the company is looking to take on more staff.. Oude Meer, with its canalside setting and close to the famous Aalsmeer may look very bucolic, if you can ignore the jets thundering overhead, but it is a prime location. Schiphol’s cargo area is expanding southwards and the location is as close to the airport as it is possible to be without actually being on-airport. Rolf van der Graff describes GFF’s typical target customers as “those


who currently use an integrator or parcels company but who now want someone who can advise them on the best way of moving freight. We can compete with the integrators because of our service level. Also, I think it’s easier to maintain good service levels if you have a relatively small number of customers and a small team of people.” For example, GFF is importing plastic bottles for an ethical drinking


water company, which donates a portion of its profits to digging wells in Africa. “We had a large inbound consignment of cartons, which needed to be split and then sent to different locations all over the country.” That would be hard to do on many of the more standardised


parcels networks, he believes. GFF also offers pick and pack solutions from its premises. There is strong demand too for onboard courier services to many destinations, particularly in China or central Asia, or any place where having a human presence can greatly speed up clearance times. GFF can also offer a hybrid service to China whereby the consignment


travels as normal express as far as Hong Kong but is then switched to on-board courier for second segment of the journey to mainland China. Hand carrying valuable consignments also improves security. “It is expensive compared with conventional courier, but if something is valuable enough or you have a whole factory tied up because you need a part, then a couple of thousand euros is very little to pay to ensure that it gets there as quickly as possible,” says Achim van der Graaff. That said, onboard courier demand tends to be the first to fall in a recession – though the local airfreight market is recovering well. Increased security measures will inevitably have an impact on


life on and around the airport. Local forwarders are expecting the security cordon to be extended, necessitating checks every time they pass to and from the airport itself. There are pros and cons to being on and off airport. If you’re on airport, you will need to pass through the security cordon every time you venture off it; if you’re off-airport every time time you move onto it. Increased levels of checks will have implications for many customers


of the airfreight industry too. Those that cannot afford or justify becoming known shippers could faced increased levels of checks.


for inspection, the more you minimise any operational disturbance for them.” As for Schiphol’s well- established role as a major transhipment hub for UK longhaul air cargo, Osinga suggested the planned construction by 2015 of a cargo station at the airport with access to its high-speed rail line could open up new feeder route options. “The high-speed rail link


will initially go to Paris but discussions are already going on with the parties running high-speed rail services through the Channel Tunnel into the UK because the classic move would be to develop high speed rail products from here to the UK,” he stated.


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