It was a special day in the history of air cargo at Brussels Airport as BRUcargo’s community organization Air Cargo Belgium celebrated its 5th anniversary.
The history: How did it start?
It was on the 21st of April in 2016 that Air Cargo Belgium VZW was officially founded. A result of a long period of meetings, dialogues and shaping a strategy. On top of that, it was of utmost importance that the ‘founding fathers’ agreed on a common vision. The ultimate goal: to bundle the forces at BRUcargo and the airfreight industry for once and for all.
The founding fathers of Air Cargo Belgium were Brussels Airport (Steven Polmans), BAFI (David Bellon, Philippe Fierens & Alain De Heldt), ACMAB (Bob Vandamme & Bas Van Gogh), Voka (Geert Keirens, Paul Hegge & Peter Van Biesbroeck) and the Ground Handling Agents, which were previously represented by CTC (Eddy Van Craen): Aviapartner (Jan De Leeuw), Swissport (Patrick Minsart) and WFS (Marc Claessen). Steven Polmans became the first Chairman of Air Cargo Belgium.
Because of the smooth collaboration with ACB and the strong growth of ACB, BAFI, CTC, and ACMAB were integrated within Air Cargo Belgium not a long time after the launch and continued operating as a cluster within the ACB structure.
The first major milestone was the recognition and subsidy of the Flemish Government as an Innovative Company Network. This provided the organization with financial support for three years and enabled ACB to set up a professional cluster organization with a team of recently graduated bachelors in logistics. It was Angelique Heynen (VLOC) and Geert Keirens (Director) who initially ensured a smooth take-off of Air Cargo Belgium and not a long time after that, Gilles Van Goethem became the first employee. 12 more colleagues would follow in the first 5 years.
What is the mission?
Air Cargo Belgium strives to make BRUcargo the most attractive, efficient, innovative, and successful logistical platform. This has been the mission from the start and is now being expanded with sustainability as a goal. They do this through cooperation in 9 different steering groups and additionally different projects with the main focus on Digitization (With its well-known BRUcloud platform), Pharma, Live Animals, and E-commerce.
Who is involved?
Since the start 5 years ago, the organization grew from 7 founding members to more than 150 members today, bringing together almost all types of Air Cargo companies like Handlers, Forwarders, Airlines, and other stakeholders. There is strong cooperation with governments at all levels and with governmental agencies such as Customs, Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FAVV), Civil Aviation Authorities (DGLV), Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAGG), Federal Agency for Nuclear Control (FANC), the Federal Police and so on.
Results after 5 years of community building
Since the start, ACB has made immense progress to achieve its goals and to become first of its class.
- Brussels Airport became the ‘Preferred Pharma Gateway of Europe’, playing a leading and crucial role in the worldwide distribution of the Covid-19 vaccines.
- Thanks to the focus on Digitization and data sharing via BRUcloud, 12 community applications have been rolled out and a Digital Green Lane for the landside processes has been launched. This increases the transparency and efficiencies of all involved companies in the value chain of air cargo.
- Flown cargo volumes increased by 10 % from the start-up of ACB to 2018, and although the 2018 China-US crisis hit the Air Cargo Industry worldwide, volumes have picked up ever since, and even during this pandemic volumes are higher than ever. Last year, we saw an increase in flown volumes compared to 2019 by 2%.
- ACB has taken up a frontrunner role in innovation by continuously focusing on digitizing on a local level but through involvement in international and European projects working on a Physical Internet roadmap and pilot projects to shape a sustainable Air Cargo Industry for the future.
- Competencies of all BRUcargo staff are being developed through Aviato Academy, formerly Air Cargo Academy, an ACB subsidiary.
- ACB has been rewarded and awarded several times by Brussels Airport and in International competitions for its strong community and innovative approach.
