Schiphol cargo posts robust mid-year figures

Cargo volumes at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport reached 796,801 tonnes for the first six months of 2016, a 1.6 percent, year-over-year, growth, with a 2.5 percent, year-over-year, growth for June, reaching 135,528 tonnes. In the context of anemic growth on the global scale, Schiphol’s numbers represent “strong mid-year growth,” according to Europe’s third biggest cargo hub.

These numbers reflect a regional trend, with European freight posting remarkable growth in the first two quarters of 2016, up 41.7 percent to 90,991 tonnes, compared to 64,197 tonnnes in the same period in 2015.

April was a particularly strong month, with cargo volumes reaching 137,666 tonnes. This represents a 6.8 percent increase, year-over-year, from 128,843 tonnes in April 2015. Cargo throughput for H12016 was 796,801 tonnes, compared to 784,567 tonnes during the first half of 2015.

Freighter movements from January to June 2016 were also up 7.1 percent, at 8,801 this year, compared to 8,218 in the same period in 2015.

Jonas van Stekelenburg, head of cargo at Schiphol explained that the airport benefitted from the addition of new carriers such as Jet Airways, as well as growth among existing carriers such as DHL. “Asia is a very important market for us” he added, noting that “Schiphol remains an attractive hub for carriers from the region.”

The strong European results reflect new carriers servicing Schiphol, as well as busier schedules for extant services. Recent success stories include Silk Way, a new carrier that ships to Asia via Baku, and AirBridgeCargo, which has recently extended services from Schiphol and ships via Moscow.

Asia is Schiphol’s biggest market. Freight along this route picked up in June, and showed only a 5.8 percent dip over the first half of the year, with 276,312 tonnes from January to June 2016, compared to 293,293 tonnes in the same period in 2015.