Coventry Airport has announced it is open for business with the world after appointing an official handling agent to process all inbound and outbound cargo.
Resident pan-European, time critical logistics specialist BDA (Bespoke Distribution Aviation) has been named handling agent at a time the business is on track to almost triple its size in a period of just two years.
The company, which is licensed to process all air cargo at the airport to meet all aviation security regulations, including explosives and dangerous goods, will make the airport more accessible to businesses moving freight in and out of the UK and has undergone extensive training and development in order to become a handling agent.
The agreement comes at a time when Coventry Airport is poised to become a major cargo hub with the recent £106 million redevelopment project on the site’s surrounding road infrastructure nearing completion. The work includes major road widening and the construction of an underpass around the Tollbar Island roundabout, and restructuring of the bridge and roundabout on the A46 link road. Kevin Turner, Managing Director of BDA, said that such a hub location, which is also close to all major motorway networks, is vital not just for final mile logistics for international freight coming in and out of the country, but also as a central bridge connecting the northern powerhouse and the thriving industry of the south.
Having such access to this country-wide network has enabled BDA to move into new markets and extend its services from an air bridge logistics specialist to a company that provides a complete and end-to-end logistics solution collecting, flying and delivering freight throughout Europe, with its central hub at Coventry Airport.
“The Midlands has always been seen as central to the country’s road network but Coventry Airport is now even more ideally placed to service the regional powerhouses developing all over the country, and indeed, across Europe.
“It provides an ideal location from which we can transport and handle freight quickly to anywhere in the UK. And it’s no surprise that it is home to some of the leading distribution companies and a host of other corporate businesses that operate key delivery networks,” he said.
BDA has been on an impressive growth journey for a number of years, helped largely by its acquisition of German company NightExpress in 2013. The company has already been regulated to screen its own outbound freight to Ireland, as well as scanning inbound and outbound freight to its hubs in Frankfurt and Maastricht from its Coventry hub. And it is now able to process all freight coming in and out of Coventry Airport, on behalf of other distributors too. The company has been based at Coventry Airport since it was founded in 2007 and currently serves such leading brands as Suzuki, Toshiba, CLAAS, Jungheinrich, and GE Healthcare.
Judy Groves, Marketing Director at the Rigby Group said that BDA’s success story and appointment as the airport’s handling agent, encapsulates the vision of the Airport to become a key cargo hub for the global supply chain.
Judy added: “BDA’s success story is phenomenal and we are really proud that they have their UK hub situated at Coventry Airport and are now our handling agents too. Their story, and the story of many of our other logistics residents that are based here, is further evidence that Coventry Airport is already playing a huge role in the global supply chain, and with our own handling agent, we will continue to do become a centre for air freight for many years to come.”
Source: MHWMagazine