Royal Schiphol Group has acquired full ownership of cargo community platform named Cargonaut as part of efforts to drive digitisation across the supply chain.
The airport operator said the move will strengthen the airport cargo community’s relationship with Dutch Customs, which under the Dutch Government’s Digital Transport Strategy, is seeking to work more closely with companies such as Schiphol who fulfil a public mainport function.
Schiphol Group previously owned around 38% of the shares in the IT platform, with the remainder belonging to stakeholders, including KLM and Air Cargo Netherlands (ACN), the industry association for the Dutch air cargo sector, says release.
Schiphol’s move is the result of a strategic review of the national logistics IT policy made by the Dutch government last year, which concluded better and faster flow of data is critical for the country to maintain its role as a major European conduit for international cargo traffic.
“The cargo community will benefit from this transition, it will make the supply chain more predictable and it will strengthen Schiphol’s competitive advantage,” said Miriam Hoekstra – van der Deen, Head of airport operations.
Sjoerd Blűm, Chief Information Officer and Director IT and Data at Schiphol said, “Proper data sharing ensures smooth cargo handling, from which efficiency in the chain will increase. We will be inviting community members to share their vision regarding their future needs and functionalities for the system and we will keep sharing important milestones as the project progresses.”
Jonas Van Stekelenburg, Interim Chief Executive, Cargonaut stated, “With the new system that Cargonaut and Schiphol Group are building we will be ready for the future and able to further innovate and exchange information. We are replacing the current deprecated system, but we are also improving it. The new PCS will make it easier for cargo parties to communicate with one another, as well as with the Government. Moreover, it will enable the sector to handle the expected increase in e-commerce clearances.”
