Amsterdam Schiphol Cargo Volume Falls 6 Percent

Amsterdam Schiphol airport handled 6 percent less cargo in September than a year earlier, but Europe’s third largest freight hub remains on target to close the year ahead of 2010 traffic.

The decline, to 123,284 metric tons, was driven by a 15.8 percent plunge in shipments from Asia and a 6.3 percent drop in Middle East traffic. The decline was partially offset by a 7.4 percent increase in North America traffic and 6.6 percent growth on African routes.

This left traffic in the first nine months up 2.3 percent from the 2010 period at 1.14 million tons.

By the Numbers: European Airlines' Freight Traffic

“It’s clear that economic worries in the US and eurozone are feeding down to cargo traffic, particularly to and from the Far East,” said Enno Osinga, Schiphol cargo senior vice-president. “Although other markets are still looking robust, they cannot make up for the shortfalls in this major production and consumer region.”

Separately, China Cargo Airlines has switched its European operational base to Schiphol from Luxembourg airport following its merger with Great Wall Airlines and Shanghai Cargo Airlines. The carrier is operating a daily 777 freighter service between Schiphol and China, replacing a service previously run by Great Wall Airlines.

-- Contact Bruce Barnard at brucebarnard47@hotmail.com.