dnata is to invest more than €200m in a fully automated cargo centre dnata Cargo City Amsterdam, at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS).

Located at Schiphol South-East, the 61,000m² facility will include increased 19,000m² warehouse space, and be capable of processing over 850,000 tonnes of cargo annually. According to dnata, it will comply with the highest industry standards for handling all types of cargo, including perishables, pharmaceuticals, dangerous goods, mail, live animals, aircraft engines and vehicles. The facility is scheduled to become operational in 2024.

dnata Cargo City Amsterdam will be developed by Schiphol Commercial Real Estate and equipped by Lödige Industries. The project is Schiphol Real Estate’s largest ever commercial property development at AMS. The project aims to earn BREEAM excellent-level certification for sustainability and the eco-friendly design of the facility.

The new facility will be equipped with two separate automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), using the latest technology from Lödige Industries, for import and export with 12 stacker cranes. Up to 2,500 pallets will be stored here. In addition, a separate storage for ULDs will be serviced by four elevating transport vehicles.

dnata will also use seven intelligent automated guided vehicles (AGV) to enable flexible and scalable ULD transport within the terminal. These AGVs, a new product from Lödige Industries, will be applied here for the first time on a large scale. Another special feature will be the implementation of smart gates, which automatically record the volume and weight of all incoming consignments by scanning them in 3D, significantly speeding up handling and improving the quality of service.

All elements will be integrated into a comprehensive high-performance warehouse management system to enable dnata to further grow its operations and service at Schiphol. The high level of automation will not only save dnata space and time, but will also increase safety and free up staff for higher-value tasks, the company says.

In recent years, dnata has made several strategic investments in its operations. These include new, state-of-the-art cargo facilities in Manchester, Karachi and Lahore, and additional cargo capacity and infrastructure in Brussels, Sydney and Toronto. In addition, next month dnata will open the second phase of the dnata City East project at London/Heathrow.

dnata currently provides passenger, ground handling and cargo services to 29 airlines at Schiphol. Its 1,000-strong Netherlands team assists deals with 1.5 million passengers, some 8,000 flights and 580,000 tons of cargo annually.