Schiphol cargo growth up 7.3% during 1st quarter of 2014

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol experienced a 7.3 % growth in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period last year, with reaching a total of 393,000 tonnes. Full freighters provided 60% of the capacity, which is interesting as the air cargo market is increasingly being influenced by belly capacity. First quarter was good, driven by a number of things. January was good, which was still a backlog from November-Decemberdriven by electronics. February was surprisingly good despite Chinese New Year. So we had a really bad first week but it really picked up. The positive thing is that, it is not a specific incidental growth but overall, the sectors are growing. And that gives us great confidence,” said Enno Osinga, Senior Vice President-Cargo, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

The quarter also strengthened Schiphol’s interest in India, up 67% with an excess of 2600 tonnes of cargo, representing 2% of the entire cargo traffic.Asia as a marketexperienced a 7.7% growth with 145,300 tonnes of cargo and a market share of 37%. “The positive thing about Asia is that, last year we really reached a balance inbound and outbound. The big question is that will that balance continue for the rest of the year? I find that difficult to predict. But so far the figures seem to be very positive,” said Osinga.

Schiphol witnessed a decline of -6.0% in its Latin America business. “With the exception of Latin America, we have grown to every destination,” said Osinga. Africa with a modest growth of +1.6% has been a stable market for Schiphol mainly based on flowers. North America contributed a growth of +13.2%, whichwas based on general economic recovery.

However, the top ranking market for Schiphol’s was the Middle East with +14% growth contributing 54,100 tonnes of cargo and representing a market share of 14%. “Middle-East growth should be added a little bit to Africa. What we can see is that part of Africa traffic is now being routed through Middle East. It isn’t originating in Middle East but it is Africa,” said Osinga.

In 2013, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol experienced a 3.2% growth in cargo traffic in 2013, with the total of 1,531,089 tonnes coming close to the airport’s all-time record set in 2007. Looking forward to the year ahead, Osinga said: “The end of last year’s growth was significantly supported by the introduction of gadgets like Xbox and the Playstations. I expect the growth to be high in first half of the year but in the second half of the year it will flatten out.”

Taking cue from 2013’s performance, Osinga said, “Growth really started in July last year. I don’t think we will see the same growth figures in November-December that we saw last year. Flower business continues to grow and the big opportunity is in pharmaceuticals. We have been very successful in reopening the Indian market. The growth figures in India have been spectacular. There has been lot of additional capacity put in by KLM. ”

“The growth is being spread across all the airlines flying into Schiphol. What we see after five years of recession is that the whole market is getting to a more stable position,” said Osinga on a positive note.