E-commerce volumes being transported through Helsinki Airport have grown rapidly over the past year following the start up of parcel firm Nordic Parcel Express.
The company started operations in August 2023 and has been importing/exporting e-commerce volumes that would have previously flown through European hubs such as Amsterdam, Paris and Liege.
The company said that since starting up operations, e-commerce volumes transported through the airport have increased from around 50 tons per month last year to 650 tons in July.
It is aiming to reach 1,000 tons per month by the end of the year.
The company started in the air cargo handling terminal of ASR Cargo Center, one of three GHAs operating at HEL airport, but it was later decided that the company would be a separate entity specialising in customs clearance and handling of the low-value e-commerce goods and coordination with other supply chain members.
Operations began with just one employee but the team has since grown to eight members of staff.
Chief executive of ASR Cargo Center and also a board member of Nordic Parcel Express, Samuli Naskali, said that technology was key to the company’s success.
Nordic Parcel Express has been utilising software firm Feeport’s x7trade service for customs clearance and Qstep for handling e-commerce shipments at an item level.
“In our board meeting in 2023 we decided to pursue e-commerce side of cargo business,” said Naskali. “Close cooperation with airlines, cargo handlers and the neutral technology providers such as Feeport and Qstep, gave us the technology tools to start pursuing this endeavor.
“A lot of work followed and I’m now happy to say that we have accomplished what we set out to do. Bringing in more volume to Finland by making Helsinki more attractive for e-commerce than ever and making our portfolio bigger by claiming e-commerce as one of our expertise.”
Luis Pimentel, chief executive of Feeport, added: “With x7trade we aim to provide our business clients with the full e-commerce compliance package: from Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) submission and customs clearance of low value e-commerce goods, to shipment status updates in the cargo terminal.
“Finland has been a success story for us, and we want to build on this success across all EU markets.”
He added: “To our knowledge, the Finnish Customs has been one of the first EU Customs to start demanding that ENS for e-commerce shipments should be submitted on the parcel level.
“This ICS2 requirements has put a lot of pressure on all sides, us, as technology providers, local customs and even Brussels itself, but we now start to see the light in the end of the tunnel as submission of ENS to the EU Common Repository (CR) is finally stabilizing and records of technical flight data and shipments ‘data submitted by airlines or their partners start to match continuously.”
Helsinki handlers update systems to comply with ICS2 requirements
The post E-commerce volumes on the up at Helsinki appeared first on Air Cargo News.
