The Amsterdam airport saw the largest increases in Far East and Europe cargo volumes, with June figures coming in at all-time highs.
Amsterdam’s Airport Schiphol saw cargo volumes grow 8.7 percent to 866,713 metric tons during the first half of 2017, compared to the same period a year ago.
Half-year figures for the Far East were 154,866 metric tons for outbound volumes, a 12.2 percent increase compared to the same period last year. Inbound east volumes reached 149,836 metric tons, an 8.3 percent increase. The airport handled an additional 153 full freighter flights during the first six months of 2017 as well.
Schiphol’s biggest market is Europe, with Europe inbound figures for January to June 2017 at 60,320 metric tons, an increase of 29.1 percent on the same period in 2016. Europe outbound figures were up 39.2 percent at 61,641 metric tons for the same period.
A strong flower trade led to an increase of 31.4 percent for inbound Latin America volumes. However, exports for January to June 2017 were at 35,275 metric tons, a 6.3 percent decrease. Imports from Africa were also down to 59,409 metric tons, a 3.5 percent year-over-year. Exports to the region were down 15.3 percent to 24,902 metric tons for the same period.
Volumes for the Middle East were mixed, with inbound volumes at 43,557 metric tons, down 4.4 percent, and outbound figures at 61,973 metric tons, an increase of 7.0 percent.
The airport handled record volumes last month at 148,765 metric tons, a 9.8 percent increase compared to June 2016. Volumes to the Far East increased 15 percent to 27,706 metric tons in June, with inbound volumes from the east reaching 26,511 metric tons – a 14.1 percent increase from the same period a year ago.
June 2017 inbound volumes for Europe were at 11,217 metric tons, up 25 percent on 2016, while outbound figures were at 11,450 metric tons for a 41.8 percent increase. According to Schiphol, this strong growth is the result of Asian cargo, which transits Baku, Azerbaijan, and Moscow, Russia, to and from the Far East and Amsterdam.
Latin American inbound tonnage for June 2017 was up 15.2 percent with outbound tonnage up 6.1 per cent on June 2016. North American imports were up 1.7 percent in June 2017 to 12,278 metric tons, which is a better figure than the 6.3 percent drop in volumes for the half-year in total, said Schiphol.
“The Schiphol Cargo Community has worked on a series of new initiatives this year, which demonstrate our commitment to delivering safe and efficient cargo products, and our excellent first half-year performance is the result of this collaboration,” said Jonas van Stekelenburg, head of cargo at the airport.
Schiphol’s new Compliance Checker program, launched in May, speeds up cargo flows by detecting data errors and customs compliance errors in air waybills will help boost e-Commerce flows through the hub, said the company. In addition, Air Cargo Netherlands’ Milkrun initiative, launched in May 2015, became fully operational last month, without the need of a project manager after a successful pilot phase. Furthermore, Schiphol recently secured a 1 million euro (U.S. $1.16 million) grant to begin developing a “Pharma Incursion Alerter,” or an early warning system for shippers. A pilot phase is currently in the works.
“We are pleased that our continued focus on developing innovative solutions, such as our Compliance Checker and the Milkrun, for our growing base of e-Commerce and pharma customers has helped to deliver strong growth in the first half of the year,” said Stekelenburg.
Schiphol cargo volumes soar 8.7% in first half 2017
