Typical of the specialist airports is Vatry, which has had a 4,200 square metre perishables centre ever since it opened in 2000. The airport touts its rapid handling times, and easy trucking links to major European wholesale markets such as Rungis nearParis.
But, admits communications manager Laurent Delarue, the only regular user of the facility at present is Avient, a UK-based carrier that operates ten DC- 10 freighter flights a week from Lagos and other West and Central African destinations. Still, he insists that the perishables centre is a good promotional tool for Vatry. "Not all airports have this, so it is a good way to attract carriers,"he says.
Mixed success for Vitoria Another all-cargo airport that has promoted its perishables facilities heavily is Vitoria in northern Spain. Its 4,000 sq metre temperature-controlled terminal handles around 28,000 tonnes of perishables, mainly fish, a year ¨C but these daysonly 4,000 tonnes of that is air freight.
In the early 2000s the figure was much higher, with Vitoria a regular stop for B747 freighter operators such Cargolux, British Airways, and South African Airways on the way back from Africa and South America. VIA, the promotion agency for the airport, also tried to develop other charter traffic from Canada and Africa.
But, admits Enrique Gutierrez, managing director of VIA, this traffic has now largely dried up, with a weekly MD-11F flight by Air Canada being the only survivor. "A lot of fish is now fl own in passenger bellies to Central European hubs and then trucked back here," he says. "Belly cargo can off er lower rates, and perishables exporters are happier to split their loads between several passenger flights than risk it all on one freighter."
Schiphol sees sector growth
Th is trend has also been seen by Kuehne& Nagel, one of the few global forwarders to take a serious interest in the perishables business. Late last year it opened a new 3,500 square metre facility at Amsterdam¡¯s Schiphol airport, which as well as servicing other specialist cargoes, gives it five times more space than previously for processing perishables imports.
Edwin Stuik, perishables sales manager for Kuehne& Nagel in the Netherlands, says the business is growing across the board, and is regarded as a strategic focus for K&N in its drive to be a global player in all freight sectors.
He too says belly cargo has become increasingly important for perishables in recent years, simply because more belly capacity is available from the key perishables exporting markets. However, he says there is still a big capacity gap for freighters to fi ll, pointing to nearby Maastricht which attracts perishables flights from Cargolux, and the B747F flights of Belgian start-up Cargo B to Johannesburg, Nairobi and Latacunga in Ecuador as evidence.
Stuik also says that Amsterdam¡¯s dominance in perishables is undiminished. "It is to do with the expertise of the airlines here, and also of the forwarders," he says. "We of course also have the flower auctions, and in general this is a really good transit point for perishables."
Tough decision for Hahn
All of this leaves an investor at Hahn airport in Germany wondering if it is worth investing in a perishables centre or not. The airport has recently become the European hub for Egypt Air, which has 7-10 A300 flights a week into the airport with flowers, vegetables and seafood. Qantas also flies meat into Hahn, while Air Armenia imports shellfish.
Udo Preissner, director sales and marketing for the airport, says it would be happy to have a perishables centre to accommodate this traffic, but says the private investor which would build the terminal is still researching the market to see if it would be viable.
"We already provide a good service for perishables through our existing facilities," he points out. "We have rapid handling and it is very easy to transport food shipmentsquickly onwards."