Samskip has targeted further growth for its project cargo operations as it has attach the air freight team operating out of Schiphol airport in the Netherlands to its project cargo portfolio. 

“We are extending our ability to overcome exceptional transport challenges by bringing together proven expertise in air and ocean logistics,” says Jens Siedentopf, head of breakbulk and projects, Samskip.

The joint initiative between the Bremen-based project cargo team and the Schiphol airport-based air freight team, creates a focus for capabilities which extend from express air freight delivery, through breakbulk, heavy lift and out of gauge special cargoes movements by sea. The one-stop-shop service includes coordinated plane and ship chartering by Samskip.

Samskip sees growth in project cargo

Mostly associated with multimodal transport, Samskip has identified project cargoes as a strong opportunity for growth, based on its global logistics presence and the potential to coordinate with its shortsea, rail, trucking and inland barge service network. The opportunity to add airfreight to the project cargo mix follows the launch of Samskip Air in May 2021.

Coordinating sea and air services allows Samskip air freight manager Hans Blauw to convert other opportunities. A recent requirement to help a customer facing production backlogs to transfer a 19-tonne load that would normally have been shipped by sea to air service provided “one example of how this can work”, says Blauw.

However, Blauw is more focused on growing volumes based on logistics expertise rather than opportunism. The former KLM, FedEx and TNT executive says a job for an oil major which involved sending some cargoes by sea and chartering a plane to carry urgently needed equipment by air “to get rigs operational after a storm” showed what can be done. Another, for a mining company, saw equipment shipped by sea and plane on a door-door basis, with trucking managed by Samskip at both ends.

“We offered full project cargo logistics services that deal with the customer’s need to get their asset working and earning again, backed up by out of gauge loads moving by sea,” says Blauw Other areas where Samskip’s airfreight skillsets have been making an impact include logistics management for China’s mobile phone industry, he adds.

The attractions of Samskip as air freight service provider for overweight/oversized cargoes could be a “no brainer” for its existing project cargo customers, according to Siedentopf. “Based on extensive knowledge, we offer services ranging from logistics management to individual transport planning from origin to destination. We’ve also made a speciality of combining tailor-made transport services to secure attractive freight rates. We have the experience, the engineering and the risk assessment, the chartering solutions and the equipment to support our ambitions.”