Schiphol switches to digital declarations

David van der Meer. Source: Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is no longer accepting paper declarations as part of efforts to speed up the cargo handling process.

On April 1, the airport switched to Automated Nomination which digitalises the declaration paperwork, allowing shipments to be processed before they arrive.

Prior to Automated Nomination, ground handlers at Schiphol Airport would have to wait for the freight to arrive and review the corresponding paperwork before a forwarder could be nominated to handle the shipment.

“Ground handlers at Schiphol are now informed about incoming shipments much sooner, reducing the time required to process cargo, while the elimination of manual processing has minimised the possibility of human error and shipment mishandling,” the airport said.

David van der Meer, cargo partnerships director for the Smart Cargo Mainport Program (SCMP), Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, said: “We have been piloting Automated Nomination with growing success since October 2021 and are proud to have now rolled it out officially as a mandatory process at Schiphol Airport.

“We aim to have every shipment nominated automatically, which offers benefits for every stakeholder in the cargo supply chain.

“Automated Nomination creates a better connection between the air waybill (AWB) and the receiving forwarder.”

Developed by the SCMP team, Automated Nomination is an algorithm that predicts which forwarder will collect a shipment using only AWB, airline, and shipper data, with a 99% accuracy rate.

In order to be compliant for Automated Nomination, a digital station declaration is required.

“Handlers, forwarders, and Schiphol Airport, in collaboration with Air Cargo Netherlands, have introduced a digital station declaration, marking the end of the decades-old paper freight station statement,” the airport said.

“The number of digital station declarations at Schiphol has already seen a record increase, from 1,200 declarations in October last year to 3,000 declarations by April 1 this year.”

The number of forwarders participating in Automated Nomination has meanwhile increased from 60 to 140, with numbers still growing.

Schiphol cargo throughput up

Dnata invests in Amsterdam automated cargo centre

Swissport adds cargo capacity at Schiphol as warehousing is “the new gold”

Share this story

Related Topics

Latest airfreight digitisation news

Delta Cargo expands partnership with WebCargo

Delta Cargo has expanded its offering on online booking platform WebCargo by Freightos to include more destinations and products. The…

Read More

Share this story

Korean Air connects with DHL through APIs

DHL Global Forwarding is continuing to add direct connections to its airline partner’s booking systems, this time integrating with Korean…

Read More

Share this story

CargoAi’s new service aims to make securing spot cargo easier

Digital technology platform CargoAi has launched a new feature designed to make the process of finding and securing available spot…

Read More

Share this story

Damian Brett

Damian Brett
I have been writing about the freight and logistics industry since 2007 when I joined International Freighting Weekly to cover the shipping sector.After a stint in PR, I have gone on to work for Containerisation International and Lloyds List - where I was editor of container shipping - before joining Air Cargo News in 2015.Contact me on [email protected]