Schiphol gateway offers competitive rates

Significant freight volumes moved by DSV through Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands has enabled the company to secure extremely favourable freight rates from first-class air carriers, European director Kees Mooij told customers during a recent visit to South African-based DSV Turners Shipping. DSV offers consolidations three times a week from Schiphol to OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. “This means customers can order and receive their airfreight consignments at short notice, allowing them to order on a just-in-time basis, cutting their stock holdings and freeing up capital,” he added. DSV Turners Shipping operations director Blain Kondiah said that the Netherlands had been a natural choice for the DSV gateway because of its central location in Europe and because of the already high freight volumes moving through the airport. “DSV’s major road transport fleet allows for the transfer of goods to the freight gateway on an overnight basis from anywhere in Europe, ready for the next consolidation to be shipped to South Africa,” he told FTW. Turners moved into the international DSV fold in December last year following the merger of ABX Logistics and DSV. According to Kondiah, the merger – which created the fifth-largest shipping and logistics organisation in the world – provides both companies with several complementary synergies. For example, he said DSV had been very strongly represented in Scandinavia where ABX was not, and that ABX had been very active in Iberia and in Eastern Europe, where DSV was not. In addition, DSV’s size gives it greater leverage in negotiations with transport providers, he added.