Amsterdam Airport Schiphol handled 784,567 tonnes of air cargo in the first six months of 2015, down 2.1 per cent on 2014, despite the fact freighter movements rose 1.4 per cent to 8,218.
The figures were mainly impacted by declines in Asia traffic (down 3.8 per cent at 293,293 tonnes) and Europe (down 16.2 per cent to 64,198 tonnes).
Other regions held up better in the first half year: NorThAmerica traffic rose 4.7 per cent in the period, to 150,494 tonnes; while Latin America produced another bright spot, up 4.8 per cent to 84,482 tonnes. Middle East traffic was down 3.4 per cent at 103,243 tonnes and Africa was only marginally down (0.1 per cent) at 88,860 tonnes.
Schiphol’s best monThin the period was March, wiTha total of 139,597 tonnes. Newly-appointed director – cargo, Jonas van Stekelenburg said: “It’s disappointing that we have not seen some growThagain in 2015 so far but, given the current softness of our major market, China, the tonnages are better than we might have expected. The weakness of the Russian economy also impacted one of our biggest flower markets, aff ecting exports around Valentine’s Day and other events in their calendar when flowers are given.
“The figures are also better than they might appear, as they are compared against a very strong first half of 2014, when we experienced a growThof 7.2 per cent. The tonnages for 2015 are actually still 6.5 per cent up on 2013.
“Our ongoing drive to innovate and improve processes at Schiphol, and the proactive work we are undertaking to develop new trade lanes and vertical clusters, should continue to insulate us against the worst eff ects of slowing economies.” Amsterdam Airport Schiphol handled 1.63 million tonnes of cargo in 2014, a growThof 6.7 per cent over 2013.