New title for Steven Polmans as of April 1st, and exciting times ahead for him: He will become Director Cargo and Logistics at Brussel Airport. This puts him in control of all cargo related processes and decisions taken by BRU’s management, including real estate matters.
Strengthening BRU’s cargo business further can only succeed if processes and operations are managed from a single source. In a nutshell, that’s the driving idea behind the airport management’s
decision to further develop the air freight business. The name of this “single source:” Steven Polmans.
He will continue to be in charge of the business development and operations of the cargo area together with his current team. But in addition, he will also take up the responsibility for all real
estate activities and developments linked to cargo, Brussels Airport announces.
Instrumental in positioning BRU Cargo up front
“He’s done a tremendous job and well deserves the promotion because he and his team have taken Brussels Airport’s cargo business to the next level,” CEO Sebastiaan Scholte of Dutch logistics
service provider Jan de Rijk told CargoForwarder Global in a first reaction. Scholte, who also chairs TIACA, added to this that “it’s a great pleasure to cooperate with Steven closely and
confidentially within The International Air Cargo Association.” In TIACA, Mr Polmans assumed the role as Vice Chairman of the organization in October 2017. A function he is performing
since.
Another Belgian industry veteran said that “it’s a great pick because Steven has proven his abilities time and again to drive freight processes at Brussels Airport efficiently forward. Under his
tenure, BRUcargo has become an attractive brand well known far beyond Belgium and the Benelux countries.”
New challenge: real estate
45-year-old Polmans joined the airport’s operating company in October 2010 as their cargo marketing chief, from where he successively worked his way up the ladder.
“Real estate is crucial in the further development of our cargo activities,” comments Steven Polmans. “By bringing this together under the same management, we can even better serve our customers
and develop our cargo product in line and hand in hand with our real estate offer.”
Innovative initiatives
In the European airport landscape, BRU has become one of the innovators of the cargo business. This is not only seen in the strong growth of volumes, but in the airport’s CEIV Pharma
certification by IATA back in 2014, the world’s first CEIV Pharma Certified Community, including local forwarders and handling agents as well. Further to this, he was instrumental in shaping
BRUcargo’s close cooperation with TIACA and in pushing digitalization issues up front, offering all members of the community organization Air Cargo Belgium electronic data exchange via the
sharing platform BRUcloud.
In a statement the airport announces that Polman’s additional responsibilities will not have an impact on the manager’s current duties and roles. He will remain Chairman of Air Cargo Belgium and
Vice Chairman of TIACA, at least “for the moment,” reads BRU’s release.
Heiner Siegmund
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