Amsterdam-Schiphol remains steady in Q3

Tonnage handled at Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport for the third quarter of 2015 was close to that of Q3 2014. The hub saw a total of 409,034 tonnes of cargo handled in Q3, only 0.08 percent lower than that of the same period last year. Asia and Europe were down 5 and 10 percent respectively, but that was offset by stronger performance in North America, which was up 2.3 percent, the Middle East – up 8 percent, Africa – up 4 percent and Latin America which was up 12 percent. Freighter movements overall were down 1.9 percent in the quarter, reflecting 4,079 total.

For the month of October, cargo tonnage processed through Schiphol grew 1.4 percent year-over-year to 147,374 tonnes compared to 145,348 in 2014. Broken out by region for inbound cargo, all were positive y-o-y with Europe up 3 percent, North America 15.3 percent, Latin America 5.9 percent, Africa 6.3 percent, the Middle East 6 percent and Asia 8.2 percent.

Outbound volume y-o-y was also in positive territory, up 2.6 percent overall, which reflects 73,151 tonnes in October 2015 compared to 71,312 in October 2014. By region, Europe was up 24.1 percent, North America 19.1 percent, Latin America 0.8 percent, Africa 5.9 percent, the Middle East 3.6 percent and Asia 7.7 percent.

Q3’s stronger performance brought year-to-date tonnages closer to 2014’s record level at 1,193, 604 (-1.44 percent). Of that, Asia held top position with 37.8 percent share of year-to-date tonnages, followed by North America with 19.2 percent, the Middle East with 13 percent, Africa with 10.9 percent, Latin America with 10.8 percent and Europe with 8.3 percent. Freighter movements were up 0.4 percent at 12,318.

Year-to-date imports were down 2.8 percent accounting for 50.6 percent of all cargo and exports were level with 2014, accounting for 49.4 percent of cargo. Major shipments of mobile phones helped with volume.

“We can never escape the volatility of airfreight markets, but we can and will insulate our carriers and logistics community as far as possible by continuing our campaign to drive paper, inefficiency and cost from the supply chain,” said Jonas van Stekelenburg, Amsterdam-Schiphol’s cargo director.