Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Nov. 2, 2020 – Royal Schiphol Group has acquired additional shares in Cargonaut B.V and now has full ownership.
Cargonaut, which was incepted in 1986, is responsible for information provision across the airport’s cargo community.
Getting Ready for the Future
Schiphol will renew Cargonaut’s Port Community System (PCS), incorporating suggestions from its users and futureproofing it for the cargo community.
The modernization will take place over the next two years, with all current services and processes remaining as they are until the new IT system is fully operational.
“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,” said Jonas van Stekelenburg, interim chief executive officer, Cargonaut.
“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.”
Increasing Predictability in the Supply Chain
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.
“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. “I would like to take this opportunity of thanking Maaike van der Windt, who worked hard to make this happen over the last two years.”
“Proper data sharing ensures smooth cargo handling, from which efficiency in the chain will increase,” Sjoerd Blűm, chief information officer and director IT and data at Schiphol added. “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.”
Digital Transport Strategy
The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management together with Dutch Customs are adopting new requirements for data exchange as part of the Digital Transport Strategy for freight transport.
One focus is the creation of a single Basic Data Infrastructure (BDI) for the digitization of all forms of freight transport in the Netherlands and Cargonaut’s system will be an important building block for this.
Within the BDI, logistics companies retain ownership of the data they generate, and they can share this data in a controlled and, where necessary, protected environment.
