Plans unveiled for €200 million cargo complex at Amsterdam Schiphol

Global service provider, dnata, is to invest more than €200 million on a fully automated cargo centre at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

Set to open in 2024, it believes that dnata Cargo City Amsterdam will be one of the largest and most advanced facilities of its kind that will “significantly enhance cargo capacity in The Netherlands and create new, direct jobs with dnata”.

Located at Schiphol South-East, the 61,000sqm facility will  boast 19,000sqm of warehouse space, and be capable of processing over 850,000 tonnes of cargo annually including including perishables, pharmaceuticals, dangerous goods, mail, live animals, aircraft engines and vehicles.

The complex will be developed by Schiphol Commercial Real Estate and equipped by Lödige Industries with cutting-edge technologies.

The project is Schiphol Real Estate’s largest ever commercial property development at AMS. Furthermore, the project will earn BREEAM excellent certification for sustainability and eco-friendly design of the facility.

David Barker, dnata’s divisional senior vice president for airport operations, said: “We belive that dnata Cargo City Amsterdam will be a game changer in the regional cargo industry, delivering significant commercial benefits for our partners, their customers and the local economy.

“Our new cargo facility will enable us to meet the rapidly growing demand for our efficient and reliable services, providing best-in-class solutions to our customers. In addition, it will help us continue to consistently deliver on our two core promises of quality and safety.

“We continue to invest in infrastructure, equipment and cutting-edge technologies with a clear focus on sustainability to further enhance our offering and offset our carbon footprint across our global network.”

While Jan Willem Weissink, managing director of Schiphol Commercial, said: “Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is Europe’s best-connected airport, with the most direct air destinations. The cargo operation is of critical importance to our airport’s network which became even more evident during the COVID pandemic.

“Together with dnata and other partners, Schiphol is working on a highly successful, efficient and sustainable cargo operation. We are delighted to have started the construction of dnata Cargo City Amsterdam for one of our most important partners in the cargo operation at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.”

The new facility will be equipped with two separate automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), using the latest technology from Lödige Industries, for import and export with twelve stacker cranes. A total of up to 2,500 pallets will be stored here.

In addition, a separate storage for ULDs will be serviced by four elevating transport vehicles (ETV) and dnata will also make use of seven intelligent automated guided vehicles (AGV) to enable flexible and scalable ULD transport within the terminal.