Panalpina starts handling imported perishables at Schiphol Airport

Panalpina starts handling perishable air freight imports at Schiphol Airport from September 1. At the location of Freight 18, Panalpina will receive the shipments directly from the platform, and completely handle them using the new cold stores.

Panalpina World Transport headed in a new direction in 2014, by focusing globally on the logistics of perishables. Driven by specialists in the field of perishables, and supported by their head office in Basel, Switzerland, they started setting up, and in many cases expanding further, the perishable network. By mid-2016 perishable offices can be found in, among other places, Kenya, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain, the UK, South Africa and Norway.

Own flight
From Mexico, a twice-weekly flight can be used, operated by the Spirit of Panalpina, a Boeing 747-800F full freighter, which serves both Guadalajara and Mexico City. Panalpina does not just offer a unique door-to-door concept to various destinations in Europe with this, but also guaranteed capacity during the high season.

Amsterdam
Export of fruit and vegetables to the Middle East, Asia, North America and Africa was started from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2014. At the start of 2016, the team was expanded with specialists fully focused on the global import of fruit and vegetables. These activities immediately took flight when Airflo was taken over and integrated in both Nairobi and Amsterdam. Panalpina-Airflo is the second-largest shipping agent in Kenya, with a tonnage of more than 40 million kilograms per year, and they are specialised in transporting flowers and vegetables by air to Europe.

Airside perishable centre
At the start of 2016, a further expansion of activities at Schiphol Airport and its surrounding airports was also started. The redevelopment of Panalpina’s freight warehouse on the platform at Schiphol Airport is the pivot in all this. By changing the stream of freight of, among other things, pharmaceutical shipments to the other side of the runway, space became available for a perishable centre with a direct platform connection.

Due to the new arrangement, the possibility was created of storing both individual pallets and complete aircraft pallets at different temperatures. By integrating a tarp cooling system the shipments, after being checked, can be cooled (again) at an accelerated pace. The presence of acknowledged inspection locations of, for example, PD, KCB and nVWA mean that nearly all transactions can occur under one roof. Yet the largest advantage remains the direct platform connection. Airline companies and their freight handlers can unload complete aircraft pallets, so-called ULDs, at the back of the craft, optimising the cooling chain. This does not just result in a better checking of the temperature, but is also an advantage regarding time.

Figures:

• 500 offices in approximately 75 countries;
• 850,000 tonnes air freight;
• 1,594,000 TEU seaborne freight;
• #4 logistically global.

For more information:
Lodewijk van de Vosse
Panalpina World Transport
Tel: +31 (0)20 655 2852
lodewijk.vandevosse@panalpina.com

Publication date: Thu 1 Sep 2016