Schiphol cargo tonnage grows 8.8% in first half

Air Cargo tonnages through Amsterdam Airport Schiphol continued to build throughout the second quarter of 2014, leading to overall growth of 8.84% in the year to date.

In the period January-June, Schiphol handled a total of 801,700 tonnes. Schiphol’s cargo throughput has outstripped 2013 in every month of 2014, reaching a peak increase of 14.1% in May.

Asia was once again the airport’s top market, with a total of 304,872 tonnes – up 8.3%, and supplying 38% of the total. North America retained second place, with 143,686 tonnes – up 14.6% and accounting for 17.9% of all traffic.

The Middle East grew 14.5% to 106,937 tonnes, representing 13.3% of the total; at the same time, Africa saw more modest growth of 4.14% to 89,010 tonnes, an 11.1% share. The relative figures in these two markets are slightly distorted by the increasing use of Middle East-based freighters to uplift fresh produce from Africa.

Europe grew by 16.2% to 76,598 tonnes, accounting for 9.6% of traffic. Latin America was the only sector to show a decline, of 5.2% to 80,597 tonnes – still a 10% share of Schiphol’s total cargo throughput.

The balance between imports and exports shifted to 51.42% and 48.58% respectively in 2014 H1: a swing of 0.58% to imports, compared to the same period in 2013.
Freighter operations to the end of June 2014 totalled 8,106 – up 7.2% on 2013.

Says Schiphol Cargo Senior VP Enno Osinga: “These figures, supported by those of other European gateways, are clear indicators that the European air cargo market is stabilising, and returning to moderate growth.
He continues: “Freighter operations have grown again, but by less than the increase in total traffic; this supports feedback from our carriers that they are enjoying improved utilisation.”

Concludes Osinga: “It is gratifying that Schiphol’s growth figures are once again the strongest among the major European gateways, and that we continue to out-perform the industry. We, our logistics community and our authorities have earned this growth by strongly supporting the continuing drive towards streamlined processes. We believe in an integrated support of the entire logistics chain; given our current results, this seems to be paying off.”