Cargo tonnages through Amsterdam Airport Schiphol continued to build throughout the second quarter of 2014, leading to overall growth of 8.84 percent year to date.
From January to June, Schiphol handled 801,700 tonnes. Schiphol’s cargo throughput has outstripped 2013 in every month of 2014, reaching a peak increase of 14.1 percent in May.
“These figures, supported by those of other European gateways, are clear indicators that the European air cargo market is stabilizing, and returning to moderate growth,” Enno Osinga, Schiphol cargo senior vice president, said. “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 utilization.”
Asia was once again the airport’s top market, with a total of 304,872 tonnes – up 8.3 percent, and supplying 38 percent of the total. North America retained second place, with 143,686 tonnes – up 14.6 percent and accounting for 17.9 percent of all traffic.
The Middle East grew 14.5 percent to 106,937 tonnes, representing 13.3 percent of the total; at the same time, Africa saw more modest growth of 4.14 percent to 89,010 tonnes, an 11.1 percent 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 percent to 76,598 tonnes, accounting for 9.6 percent of traffic. Latin America was the only sector to show a decline, of 5.2 percent to 80,597 tonnes – still a 10 percent share of Schiphol’s total cargo throughput.
The balance between imports and exports shifted to 51.42 percent and 48.58 percent, respectively, in the first half of 2014, a swing of 0.58 percent to imports compared to the same period in 2013.
Freighter operations to the end of June totaled 8,106 – up 7.2 percent on 2013.
“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,” Osinga said. “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.”