Testimonial • 03.06.2024
ViaEurope chooses Frankfurt Airport
Digital infrastructure and handling processor decides on fourth e-commerce hub
Following successful launches in Amsterdam, Liège and Budapest, Via Europe has now started operating its fourth eHub in Europe at Frankfurt Airport. By March 2024, it was already handling more than 1 million eCommerce shipments per month. And that's not the end of the story. ViaEurope is planning for substantial growth this year.
About ViaEurope
Under the heading "Global e-commerce to Europe made easy", ViaEurope operates four large e-commerce hubs in Europe. At the airports of Schiphol Amsterdam, Liege, Budapest and Frankfurt/Main, the freight processor ensures that all shipments, both large and small, are handled carefully and processed quickly, cleared through customs and delivered to end customers throughout Europe in the shortest time possible.
Website
https://www.viaeurope.com/
For Stephan Asbreuk, Chief Growth Officer at ViaEurope, the new location was an important strategic decision: "Frankfurt Airport has enormous potential. Its central location in the heart of Germany is perfect in itself. The location also has an excellent digital infrastructure for quick and automated freight and customs handling of large volumes of eCommerce shipments."
The decision to use DAKOSY as its service provider for customs clearance was made in March 2023. Asbreuk confirms: "Our first step was to look at the processes in Leipzig. The airport entered the e-commerce business relatively early on, and DAKOSY had already established itself there as a customs software service provider. We checked out other providers, but our direct contact with DAKOSY quickly convinced us of their customs expertise, eCommerce experience and technical connectivity options. Their customs software ZODIAK GE is already integrated into the Cargo Community System FAIR@Link. In our opinion, DAKOSY has the best solution for the automation of eCommerce processes."
Once the decision had been made, Via Europe quickly began with the technical link to DAKOSY and the coordination process with customs at Frankfurt Airport. Many aspects and details of various tasks had to be clarified, as there was no existing standard process for eCommerce handling in Frankfurt and the use ICS2 and ATLAS-IMPOST customs declarations was also new. Asbreuk explains: "The need for coordination was challenging. We were a kind of pilot customer for both Frankfurt Airport and for customs. Our expertise has definitely helped to ensure that these eCommerce processes are now successfully established at the airport." ViaEurope initiated the test and start-up phase in December and went live at the start of the new year. The handling volumes have been increasing step by step since then.
"Frankfurt Airport has enormous potential. Its central location in the heart of Germany is perfect in itself. The location also has an excellent digital infrastructure for quick and automated freight and customs handling of large volumes of eCommerce shipments."
Technically, the customs process is divided into three phases, all of which are highly automated: even before the goods land, Via Europe sends the ICS2 declarations to the EU customs system for security and risk analysis. The declared goods may only enter the EU once they have been released by ICS2. As soon as the aircraft arrives and the consignments are unloaded, ZODIAK GE automatically transmits a summary declaration to ATLAS to enable temporary storage in the customs office district of CargoCity Süd. Only then can the goods be further processed for logistics purposes at the airport. The FAIR@Link module FRA-OS, in which all consignment data is logged, provides essential support. Every change of location is tracked. This ensures that customs officials know where the consignments are at all times. By using FRA-OS, the goods can leave the ground handling agent's premises and be moved to the ViaEurope distribution center. There, the parcels are scanned, compared against the target inventory and declared to German customs for free circulation via the ATLAS-IMPOST procedure. After customs release by ATLAS, the parcels are handed over to local parcel service providers for delivery.
Asbreuk is satisfied and optimistic: "The start at Frankfurt Airport was a challenge for us, which we mastered quite well. Meanwhile, all processes are running smoothly, quickly and virtually error-free, so we can now concentrate on increasing the volume. We have a large warehouse and are working in three shifts. So we are looking forward to more customers with large shipment volumes."
