EU CBEC Forum 2026: Liège takes centre stage for e-com conversations

The parcel business just changed forever. On July 1, 2026, the European Union killed off the €150 "de minimis" duty exemption, the loophole that fuelled a decade of runaway Chinese e-commerce growth, and replaced it with a flat €3 customs charge on every low-value item. By 2028, marketplaces will become "deemed importers", and every shipment will flow through a new EU Customs Data Hub. Airlines, forwarders, ground handlers, shippers and platforms are all scrambling to figure out what comes next.

The answers will be found in Liège.

From September 8 to 10, 2026, the EU Cross-Border E-Commerce Forum (EU CBEC) returns to the Palais des Congrès de Liège, and this edition is shaping up to be the biggest in its history. If your business touches cross-border parcels in any way, this is the room you want to be in.

“This is already promising to be the biggest EU CBEC forum to date as we have now passed the 1,000-mark in registered attendees for the first time ever.”
Frederic Brun, Liege Airport

From niche gathering to industry heavyweight
EU CBEC started life in 2019 as a Belgium-China initiative. Seven years on, it has more than doubled in size and smashed through the 1,000 registered attendee mark for the first time ever. Organised by CARGOLAND by Liege Airport (LGG) and the Wallonia Export & Investment Agency (AWEX), the 2026 edition pulls in more than 300 companies, around 60 cargo airlines, over 100 freight forwarders, 15 trade media outlets and shippers from every major vertical.

“This is already promising to be the biggest EU CBEC forum to date as we have now passed the 1,000-mark in registered attendees for the first time ever,” says Frederic Brun, Head of Commercial Cargo & Logistics at Liege Airport.

Across three days, 53 international speakers take the stage for 17 panels and keynotes.

The host city has earned its bragging rights. Liege Airport delivered a blockbuster 2025, growing cargo volumes 14% to 1,324,579 tonnes, the fastest growth among Europe's ten largest cargo airports. It handled over 1.35 billion e-commerce packages last year, runs around the clock with no night curfew, and is pouring €500 million into its CargoLand expansion.

What's on the agenda
Day one (September 9) opens with keynotes from AWEX's Michel Kempeneers and Liege Airport's Frederic Brun, followed by a market outlook from Ryan Keyrouse, co-founder and CEO of aviation analytics firm Rotate, and a 30th anniversary keynote from Yossi Shoukroun, CEO of Challenge Group.

Then the gloves come off. The panel “Navigating the New E-Commerce Landscape: Customs Reform, Consumer Expectations and Logistics Adaptation” puts the people who enforce the rules in the same room as the people who live with them: Kristian Vanderwaeren, General Administrator of Customs and Excise at Belgium's Federal Public Service Finance, alongside Jean-Marie Salva (Fendler Salva Partners), Justus Klüver-Schlotfeldt (co-founder, NEX Limited) and Mathieu Sérafimoff (managing partner, SKYFORGE).

The Industry Leaders roundtable is a who's who of the freighter world: Jeffrey Van Haeften (SVP Cargo Commercial Worldwide, Emirates SkyCargo), Mohanned Badri (VP Operations, Saudia Cargo), Peter Scholten (CCO, Air One Aviation) and Wolfgang Meier (President and CEO, Silk Way West Airlines). On the forwarding side, Henk Venema (EVP Global Air Freight, DHL), Asok Kumar (CEO, Morrison Express) and Stefan Krikken (DSV) tackle the question keeping every forwarder up at night: how do you grow in a market this unstable?

The platforms show up too. Executives from Alibaba Group (Remon Moes and Jennifer Wang), Amazon (Guillaume Codsi) and Kaufland (Zoitsa Ilieva) dig into how marketplaces are adapting to the compliance squeeze and shifting consumer expectations. Other sessions cover data quality, AI-driven growth and ground handling excellence, with voices including Matt Petot (CargoAi), Steven Polmans (Swissport) and Valentina Abplanalp (IATA).

There is a STAT Times connection on the programme as well. Reji John, Editor of STAT Publishing Group, joins the September 10 panel “The Power of a Cargo Community with an Airport Academy” alongside Swissport's Wilfried Jans, TIACA's Riley Lane and Grow Now Group's Roland Zistler.

Why the timing is perfect
Consider the numbers. European cross-border e-commerce hit €358.7 billion in 2024/2025, and marketplaces generated €247.5 billion of it, a full 70%, according to Cross-Border Commerce Europe's latest “TOP 100 Cross-Border Marketplaces Europe” report with FedEx Express and Poste Italiane. Meanwhile, the European Commission counted 4.6 billion low-value parcels entering the EU in 2024, 91% of them from China, swelling to nearly 5.9 billion items in 2025. That flood overwhelmed customs authorities, distorted competition and forced the reform now upending the industry.

Add tightening IOSS VAT rules, Digital Services Act pressure on Shein and Temu, sustainability demands and shaky capacity. In June 2026, IATA slashed its air cargo forecast to just 0.2% volume growth for the year (71.7 million tonnes), down from the 2.6% it projected in March, blaming Middle East conflict disruptions. Every operator in the chain is facing hard strategic questions, and EU CBEC 2026 is built to answer them: a conference FORUM, an EXPO floor, an innovation LAB, curated B2B matchmaking through B2Match, and networking evenings in some of Liège's most iconic venues.

How to attend
Registration costs €150 (excluding 21% Belgian VAT) and covers the welcome reception on 8 September, all sessions, the exhibition and 1:1 matchmaking on September 9 and 10, plus the Gala Dinner on September 9, staged inside the Liège Airport passenger terminal itself, transformed for one night in true “Freight meets Magic” style. With registrations already past 1,000, places are strictly limited and early sign-up is strongly advised.

Secure your place now via the official registration page: https://www.eucbec2026.com/eu-cbec-forum/register

Three days. One city. The entire cross-border e-commerce ecosystem under one roof. Liège in September is where the next chapter gets written.