Schiphol cargo growth in Q1 maintains ranking and improves market share
Schiphol Cargo tonnages saw a return to modest growth in the first quarter of 2013. The total of all export and import cargo was 366,269 tonnes, up 2.25% on 2012.
January saw a good start to the year, with 116,137 tonnes of cargo (up 6.66%), partially due to a change in the dates of Chinese New Year. As a result, Asia showed a dramatic improvement of 17%, but Europe was even better at 22.8% growth.
February figures saw a corresponding readjustment in Asian freight of 9.5% below 2012, but a strong return for Latin America (+13.3%) cushioned the impact of this fall, producing a total of 113,469 tonnes for the month (down 3.9%) and a running total of 229,607 tonnes for the first two months (reducing the year-on-year margin to 1.2%).
But in March, the picture recovered again: with strong figures for Europe (+ 15.1%), Africa (+15.1%) and Latin America (+10.3%), and Asia also up 4.9%, the month’s total of 136,663 tonnes (+4.1%) put the year to date figure back on a growth course. March also saw total exports exceed imports for the first time since October 2012.
Freighter movements through Schiphol rose marginally in January-March 2013, from 3,765 in 2012 to 3,780 (up 0.4%).
Says Schiphol Cargo Senior VP Enno Osinga: “The figures so far are encouraging. Recent experiences teach us all to be cautious about predictions, but there is an air of optimism in the business that we have not seen for some time. So I would like to think we can maintain or improve this trend throughout the year.
“The weaker Euro seems to be helping exports at last, and it’s encouraging to see them exceed imports once again, for the first time in six months.
“We have retained our third place among major European cargo airports, but once again we are turning in the best performance of the top four, and growing our market share. This is a clear endorsement of our constant development activity in the lifescience and flowers sectors.”
He concludes: “The long-term game plan remains unchanged: we make investments and drive initiatives today, to improve processes and enhance Schiphol’s appeal for tomorrow.”