dnata opened a 61,000-square-meter cargo terminal at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in July 2025, backed by more than $70 million of investment, and has stabilized the highly automated operation after early-phase setbacks that the handler now says carry operational lessons for the wider cargo industry.

Speaking at Aviation Connect in Athens, dnata Chief Cargo Officer Guillaume Crozier described the ramp-up of Cargo City Amsterdam. He framed the project as a case study in bringing cargo volumes, systems and personnel online simultaneously.

What equipment does Cargo City Amsterdam operate?

The facility incorporates automated storage and retrieval systems, automated guided vehicles, elevated transfer vehicles, smart gates and an integrated warehouse management system.

It carries automated storage capacity for up to 2,500 pallets, a separate unit load device storage system served by four elevated transfer vehicles and seven intelligent AGVs for ULD movement.

The terminal was designed to reduce manual handling while improving efficiency, safety and scalability.

What went wrong during ramp-up?

Limited data visibility during the early months left dnata struggling to pinpoint breakdowns across the automated flows. The handler subsequently deployed operational dashboards and defined key performance indicators to stabilize operations as volumes scaled.

"Organizations should establish the necessary data infrastructure from the beginning so operators have visibility into performance and can quickly identify problems," Crozier told delegates in Athens.

Should automation be phased in?

dnata introduced multiple technologies at once, arguing that an integrated design required simultaneous deployment. Crozier acknowledged that a phased rollout can carry lower operational risk where equipment is being deployed at a new scale or in combinations not previously proven in cargo handling.

Automated guided vehicles, he added, require operators to understand how cargo and traffic flows interact with the equipment before full-scale operation. Extensive simulation before go-live, contingency planning built into the project schedule and time for unexpected setbacks featured in his recommendations to handlers evaluating their own automation roadmaps.

Major automation projects should allow enough time to accommodate unexpected setbacks rather than relying on compressed implementation schedules, he said. Employee training and change management must be incorporated alongside the technology from the outset.

What other lessons did dnata flag?

• Employee training. Workers adjust to new procedures at different paces; change management belongs in the implementation plan rather than post-launch add-ons.
• Local expertise. Operating conditions vary significantly between markets, so local knowledge needs to shape both design and ramp-up.
• Contingency and simulation. Schedules must absorb unexpected setbacks; pre-go-live simulation should validate volume behaviour.

dnata said the facility is now operating smoothly.

What does this mean for wider automation adoption?

The Schiphol experience arrives as cargo handlers increasingly turn to automation to improve efficiency and address labor constraints. Crozier's account reframes the deployment challenge: the supervisory scaffolding around the technology — data, simulation, training and contingency planning — can determine outcomes as much as the hardware specification does.

For dnata, the Schiphol ramp-up has demonstrated that realizing the benefits of automation requires more than installing new technology. Future dnata projects — and competitor rollouts across Europe's cargo-handling market — will be judged on whether that supervisory discipline matches the hardware specification when each new automated terminal reaches commissioning.