Schiphol takes aim at truck slot booking system
20 / 09 / 2023
Source: Shutterstock
The air cargo community around Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is hoping to reduce landside congestion by committing to use a truck slot booking system for cargo pick up and drop off.
On September 18, handlers, truckers, and forwarders, along with representatives from Schiphol Airport and Air Cargo Netherlands (ACN) association signed a “best effort declaration” to utilise a slot booking system being developed as part of the Smart Cargo Mainport Program.
The system means that anybody who comes to deliver or collect airfreight must first request a time slot digitally through a central platform – if the time slot is granted, parties can then go directly to a handler’s loading door.
Vehicles with unregistered freight will have to wait in a buffer parking lot, which will be developed with a reporting and calling system, from where they will be called as soon as their handler has the capacity.
“Congestion has been a long-running challenge for air cargo hubs across the world, especially regarding the trucking of freight in and out of the airport, and costs supply chain stakeholders money, impacts the environment, and demotivates employees,” the airport said in a press release.
The rule of the system will be managed by ACN and the central planning portal will be built by Cargonaut and SmartLOXS.
Joost van Doesburg, head of cargo, Schiphol Airport, said: “With this combination of digitalisation and chain process agreements, we save a lot of unnecessary waiting times and frustration for customers, we optimise the logistics process, and we make the supply and removal process of freight at Schiphol airport more sustainable.”
Maarten van As, managing director, ACN, added: “Chain parties have been irritated by costly and demotivating waiting times for years.
“We are now entering a joint process where chain parties will really see each other as chain partners by drawing up business rules that enable far-reaching digitalization of supply and disposal processes.”
