Holland’s prime airport, Amsterdam Schiphol (SPL), was often in the news during the past months due to the demise of the Martinair Cargo fleet as well as the continued disappointing cargo
results of KLM.
This, and other issues have led to a public discussion as to whether the Dutch airport could remain competitive and hold its role as one of Europe’s leading logistics centers.
Times are changing it seems
The AMS cargo management has in the past always shown itself to be innovative and productive as well as leading the way in Europe in ensuring that shippers, agents, airlines and regulatory bodies
think and act along the same lines.
The news that Martinair’s aircraft would eventually disappear and KLM Cargo’s number of aircraft would diminish drastically in the future with the planned phase out of their B747-Comb fleet, left
many wondering if there was a cargo future for Schiphol.
This fear has not diminished yet as the discussion still goes back and forth as to whether other cargo airlines will gain access, despite KLM objections, to the SPL market.
Schiphol takes the honours in the Air Cargo Excellence Awards
Despite the recent upheaval, SPL has again been ranked as the top major European airport in the latest Air Cargo Excellence Survey.
The survey which is based on airline votes, judges airports on their performance, value, facilities and operations.
Schiphol scored a total of 111 points in the survey and was presented with the award at this year’s IATA 2016 World Cargo Symposium (WCS) in Berlin.
Jonas van Stekelenburg who recently took up the position as Schiphol’s Head of Cargo was able to pick up his first award. He stated that “I am delighted that Schiphol continues to win the votes
of the global airline community, in recognition of our on-going efforts to streamline processes and provide the best possible proposition.”
Schiphol also unveiled their CEIV-certified pharma program
The Amsterdam Airport Pharma Task Force, which was set up last year launched what they term as their pharma chain program during the WCS meetings.
It is named as Pharma Gateway Amsterdam and is aimed at being IATA CEIV certified within a short period of time.
The airport says that they have already been able to recruit companies such as WFS, DNATA, Swissport, Jan de Rijk Logistics and many others as members and that they expect many will follow in the
very near future.
Ferry van der Ent of Air Cargo Netherlands is leading the way for the group in their drive for certification. He makes a point of emphasizing that “Pharma Gateway Amsterdam” goes well beyond a
simple marketing programme. This new body is tackling the entire proposition of Schiphol Airport for pharma manufacturers, and is commercially neutral.
Hopefully, things are looking brighter for the airport that never sleeps and that the Dutch political scene will ensure support where necessary.
John Mc Donagh
Write a comment