Where the boat from South America sometimes takes 6 weeks, the plane only takes a day. APC-Handling, a subsidiary of IP-Handlers, takes care of customs clearance and inspection of any from air freight mangoes to green asparagus for the European market.
New warehouse of APC Handling in Aalsmeer
Vacuum coolers
APC opened a new building a month ago a stone's throw from Schiphol Airport. "Cargo aircraft are unloaded at Schiphol and the products are brought directly to our warehouse where we take care of customs clearance and necessary inspections, after which the importer can come and collect their products from us at the dock," says René Baan, commercial manager for the fruit and vegetables within the company. .
The optimum temperature for every fruit
The new warehouse with a surface of 6000 m2 is equipped with cold stores, tropical storage rooms and vacuum coolers. “With our four vacuum coolers in the shed, we can cool fruit and vegetables down from 20 to 3 degrees in half an hour. This is especially suitable for herbs, green asparagus and legumes. This allows us to cool more than 50 tonnes per hour and to maintain quality. "
Fresh mangoes and avocados
René is mainly seeing a lot of strawberries, blueberries and green asparagus coming in by plane at the moment. “Air freight is growing in the sector. This is mainly because people want to taste the ripe mango that they have eaten while on holiday in a distant country. That taste is impossible to obtain with a boat mango. Only air freight mangoes that arrive by plane approach that taste. We also see a lot of avocados in the shed. This is mainly to deal with the peaks in trade. "
Air freight continues to grow in the fruit and vegetable sector
But what if things go wrong at Schiphol? "From APC we have the option of moving to other airports," says René. "We are also represented at Maastricht, Liege, Ostend and Brussels. This is mainly because Schiphol is already full. The cargo slots are already limited. "
Fruit Logistica
IP Handlers is also represented at Fruit Logistica in Berlin this year. "We are now under the APC Handling name for the first time and also in the Holland Pavilion in Hall 3.2 for the first time."
For more information:
APC Handling
René Baan
Noordpolderweg 20
1432 JH Aalsmeer
Tel: +31 (0) 297 747 222
Mob: +31 (0) 6 41552045
rbaan@iphandlers.nl
www.iphandlers.nl