Schiphol airfreight volumes up 2.5% in 2016

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol reported a cargo throughput of 1.66 million metric tons for the full year in 2016, a 2.5 percent increase compared with 2015 and a record for the airport.    Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands increased its cargo throughput 2.5 percent year-over-year to 1.66 million metric tons for the full year in 2016.
   The figures were a record for Schiphol, which has become the third largest air cargo hub in Europe, the airport said in a statement.
   December volumes stood at 149,000 metric tons, up 10.4 percent from the same 2015 period.
   The airport saw huge increases in intra-European shipments, up 74 percent for outbound cargo and 42 percent for inbound, but noted some of the growth was thanks to an increase in flights stopping at European destinations on their way to Asia.
   Shipments to and from Asia, which remains Schipol’s largest market, on the other hand, fell 5 percent inbound and 7 percent outbound compared with the previous year due to fewer direct flights to and from the region as noted above.
   Import volumes from North America were up 2 percent year-over-year thanks to an increase in flights from the United States to Europe, but outbound North American shipments slipped 1 percent due to a decline in belly volume, the airport said.
   Inbound airfreight from Africa grew 2 percent, but outbound shipments dropped 11 percent from 2015 levels, while inbound Middle East tonnage was up 5 percent and outbound volumes were nearly identical to the previous year.
   Latin American cargo was up 11 percent inbound thanks to increased flower imports from Quito, Ecuador, but down 12 percent outbound due to decreased capacity on routes to Miami and South America.
   Schiphol Cargo Director Jonas van Stekelenburg said the airport has launched several initiatives in the past year aimed at supporting the growth of its e-commerce, pharmaceutical, and perishables customers, including the Pharma Gateway Amsterdam initiative and a new same-day e-commerce delivery service called 12send.
   “We had a strong start to 2016 due to several new carriers making use of Schiphol, and expansion by existing players, and there was an increase in traffic levels in the second half of the year resulting in a total tonnage that surpassed our expectations – an all-time record of 1.66 million tonnes of cargo,” van Stekelenburg said of the results. “The upswing in e-commerce shipments, both inbound and outbound, were a large contributor to the cargo volumes for this market.
   “The outlook for 2017 – as we see even more air traffic growth – is positive; we are very encouraged by last year’s results,” he added.