Air cargo at Hamburg Airport

More than 150 air cargo companies have their headquarters in the area around Hamburg Airport, employing more than 1,500 people. Alongside the world’s leading cargo airlines and freight forwarding companies are other service providers, specialising in express freight. They deliver spare parts for aircraft and ships, electronic entertainment devices, and chemical products. There is also a healthy volume of clothing products.

Hamburg Airport Cargo Center (HACC)

Hamburg Airport has made itself ready for the future of air freight with the new Hamburg Airport Cargo Center (HACC). The facility, constructed at a cost of around 50 million euros, was opened in May 2016. In total, around 20,000 square meters have been allocated to logistics space for handling companies and forwarding agents. Directly adjacent to the large freight hall are 44 loading ramp positions for trucks and 36 for articulated truck-trailer combinations. A 60-meter underpass under the street “Weg beim Jäger” links the new airfreight facility directly with the airport’s apron. HACC is based on a concept that allows for an annual capacity of around 150,000 tonnes of airfreight.

The special benefits of HACC include:

• On-site veterinary and import border inspection post
• Own customs inspection area
• Temperature-controlled zones especially for pharmaceutical products
• Multi-user concept: Freight forwarding agent handling in center of hall, integration of handling agents via ramp
• Direct connection to apron
• State-of-the-art technology (e.g. truck docks, palletising station, cold store and deep-freeze store, safes, radioactive rooms, hazardous goods store)

Our air cargo catchment area

Hamburg Airport connects a region of continual growth with new markets.

As an air cargo location, Hamburg Airport depends on its catchment area, with a radius of 200 kilometers. It stretches across the entirety of Schleswig-Holstein and extends into large sections of Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and northern Saxony-Anhalt. Southern Denmark, too, relies on cargo flights from Hamburg. The total annual transport demand is around 250,000 tonnes. And because the Hamburg Metropolitan Region is growing at an above average weight, an annual growth rate of five percent is forecast for the medium term.

Hamburg Forwarding Agents Association

VHSp has been there for Hamburg’s forwarding agents for over a century.

As early as 1884, a number of Hamburg transport operators recognised that the best way to achieve the industry’s goals was to a group. And so the Hamburg Forwarding Agents Association (“Verein Hamburger Spediteure”, or “VHSp”) was born. This career and employer association represents the interests of its 350 members at regional, national, and even international levels. The association’s internal committees discuss the industry’s priorities. Working together with the responsible union, the association negotiates wages, salaries and collective agreements for the employees of forwarding agents. Companies also benefit from comprehensive advice relating to labour and social security law. Employees can undertake in-service training at the associated “Hamburg Transport Industry Academy” (“Akademie Hamburger Verkehrswirtschaft”). Weekly circulars, an electronic newsletter, and the continually updated website provide information on the latest developments in the freight forwarding business. Membership in VHSp is voluntary. The benefits are many. Further information and contact details for Verein Hamburger Spediteure e.V.  are available at: Hamburg Forwarding Agents Association

Logistics Initiative Hamburg

A public-private partnership secure’s Hamburg’s leading role in logistics in northern Europe.

Hamburg, in the far north, has developed to become one of the most dynamic logistics locations. Europe’s second-largest container port is here, with double digit growth in transshipment volumes. Road traffic, too, is growing at an above average rate here. A superb rail network makes Hamburg northern Europe’s central rail hub. And then there’s Hamburg Airport, serving the consistently growing demand for air cargo. To expand Hamburg’s role as northern Europe’s leading logistics location, more than 400 companies and institutions from the Metropolitan Region have joined forces to establish Germany’s largest industry network. Members of the Logistics Initiative Hamburg cover the industrial, trade and service sectors along with research and development. A total of eight working groups deal with such issues as enhancing the local profile, innovation and technology, commercial real estate, and human resources and qualification. As the first point of contact for the logistics business, the Logistics Initiative Hamburg conducts PR, organises networking events, and supports companies looking to locate here – to name just a few of its activities. Further information and membership forms are available online at Home | Logistik-Initiative Hamburg (hamburg-logistik.net)

Customs and border security

Customs and food and animal quarantine are the first stage of protection, and they are based at Hamburg Airport.

Customs

The airport and the surrounding region represent a single customs area. The customs office at Hamburg Airport administers passenger and goods traffic, in order to ensure that its guidelines and regulations are observed. Working with great care and flexibility at all times, the office facilitates speedy import and export handling for the logistics companies on the site.

Veterinary and import unit – Hamburg Airport Border Control Point

Every day, live animals, animal products, and food products from both animal and non-animal sources arrive in Hamburg by plane. Whenever these animals and goods do not originate in an EU state, the Hamburg Veterinary and Import Unit is to be notified before arrival. Import inspections are in place to ensure food safety and consumer protection as well as animal protection and animal health at the time of entry. At the same time, they serve to prevent the introduction of animal disease pathogens and to ensure transport appropriate to the type of product and/or the species of animal.