Jan Vreeburg, Director Logistics & Industry Affairs at KLM Cargo, accepted the award on behalf of the E-Freight@NL project team, at a ceremony held at the General Aviation Terminal, Schiphol East.
Presenting the Cargo Award, the airport's Executive Vice President and COO, Ad Rutten, explained that the E-Freight@NL project received the accolade in recognition of the major progress it had achieved in the area of paperless air cargo. He added: 'By issuing this award, Schiphol wishes to emphasise the importance of e-freight and encourage the entire airline supply chain to eliminate as much paper as possible.'
The E-Freight@NL project was an initiative of Air Cargo Netherlands, Air France-KLM Cargo, Schiphol Cargo, Cargonaut, EVO Nyenrode Business University and 25 air cargo companies; it was launched in July 2010 with Dutch Government funding of '1.2 million. In 2010, only 1,665 shipments were sent as paperless e-freight; thanks to the efforts of E-Freight@NL, by December 2012 the annual total had risen to 21,176.
Other achievements of E-Freight@NL include the establishment of a help desk and the
E-Freight@NL Online Academy, to give advice and provide online training to the air cargo industry and potential e-Freight users at Schiphol.
Each year, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol presents its aviation awards to clients and business partners who have distinguished themselves through innovative business management or positive performance.
This year's Schiphol Aviation Awards once again comprise six categories. In addition to E-Freight@NL's award, other winners are FlyBe (Airline of the Year Europe Award); ArkeFly (Airline of the Year North & South America Award); China Southern Airlines (Airline of the Year Asia Award); KLM (Airline of the Year Africa & Middle East Award); and Aviapartner (Passenger Ground Handling Award). Winners of the regional categories were selected for their punctuality, growth, innovation and marketing effort.
