The Netherlands is the largest export country of cutflowers in the world. Air cargo transport of flowersamounts to 25 percent of the total annual tonnage ofgoods that go through Schiphol Airport. However, due touncertainty of the future development in internationaltrade, as well as the increasing competition from otherhub airports in Europe and new developments in themaritime transport sector, forecasts point to a less rosypicture for the Schiphol airport and Netherlands.To maintain and improve the international competitiveposition of Schiphol airport as a 'preferred hub' forflowers, it is important to keep up with developments inthe international markets, changes in the internationalvalue chain of flowers and to strengthen the competitiveposition of Schiphol in relation to competing airports(Brussels, Liège, Frankfurt and Paris).In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework thatassesses the competitiveness of Schiphol airportcompared to its European competitors, based on a model that takes into consideration transport and logistics costs, as well as other variables like quality of services and local and business environment. The results show that Schiphol can maintain it competitive advantage due to competitive indicators as trade costs, hub position in international air-networks, quality of handling goods, and the existence of high-quality airport infrastructure and a unique business environment, which attract international business.However, the results of the flower trade analysis showthat Liège airport has become a direct competitor ofSchiphol, as this airport scores better than Schiphol fortrade in flowers above 1,000 kg. Liège airport scoresequally to Schiphol in terms of monetary, transport costsand quality of services.
Deze publicatie presenteert de resultaten van het Smartest Connected Cargo Airport Schiphol (SCCAS)-project: een tweejarig onderzoek naar logistieke innovaties die de concurrentiepositie van Schiphol op de luchtvrachtketen versterken. In dit project hebben KLM Cargo, Schiphol Nederland, Cargonaut, TU Delft en Hogeschool van Amsterdam samen met diverse partijen in de luchtvrachtketen nieuwe inzichten ontwikkeld om het afhandelingsproces op Schiphol te stroomlijnen en de productkwaliteit in temperatuurgevoelige ketens zoals bloemen en farma beter te beheersen.In Europa heeft Schiphol een sterke positie: het is de derde vrachtluchthaven na Frankfurt en Parijs. Door de beperking van het aantal beschikbare slots op Schiphol krijgen andere luchthavens zoals Brussel, Luik en Luxemburg de kans om extra lading aan te trekken. Het is daarom de ambitie van Schiphol zich te ontwikkelen tot de Europese voorkeursluchthaven voor logistiek hoogwaardige goederenstromen zoals e-commerce, farmaceutische producten en bloemen, en zich te onderscheiden door een efficiënt en betrouwbaar afhandelingsproces. Om die positie te bereiken zet Schiphol in op vier concrete innovatiedoelstellingen:- verbetering van transparantie in de keten door het delen van informatie;- inzicht in logistieke prestaties op basis van volledige en betrouwbare data over zendingen;- efficiënte en betrouwbare aan- en afvoer van luchtvrachtzendingen (landside pickup & delivery);- procesverbeteringen in de supply chains van temperatuurgevoelige producten.
Distribution centres are becoming more and more relevant for spatial planning, due to their rapidly increasing size and number. There is little literature, however, that provides a generalized analysis of the size and functional attributes of distribution centres, and none that discusses the relationships between these attributes. Our aim is to fill this gap by providing new evidence and analysis to understand this relationship. We make use of an extensive database of 2888 DCs in the Netherlands to develop a new typology of DCs based on the geographical location of DCs, their functional attributes and client sector characteristics. The analysis shows that the context in which medium sized DCs are operating is more heterogeneous than in the case of very large and small size DCs. This study is a first attempt to analyse this relationship between facility size and functions based on a rich and extensive dataset of large population of DCs. The results can serve as input for further quantitative statistical analysis and international comparison.
