Cainiao selects Liege Airport as its European logistics hub

June 01, 2018: Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics division, has selected Liege Airport as its European hub, on May 31, on the occasion of the Global Smart Logistics Summit.

The airport is one of the several hubs chosen by the Chinese logistics company as its global logistics hubs.

This new partnership between a major logistics company and Liege Airport will integrate local SMEs and promote their exports via e-commerce.

Via a vast network of collaborations and partners, Cainiao Smart Logistics Network supplies logistics services (warehouses, express delivery points, last mile etc.). However, above all, Cainiao exploits a collaborative data platform to ensure intelligent management of the logistic flows. This electronic tool supplies real time access to information for logistics partners, buyers and sellers.

E-commerce shipments from the Cainiao network are already entering the European market via Liege Airport. Establishing the hub will increase those volumes and result in more flights between Asia and Liege Airport.

Liege has a strong potential to become an international hub and this decision confirms the importance of the e-commerce sector for developments at Liege Airport. The hubs are intended to support the expansion of service “Delivery in 5 days” of Cainiao, which hopes to grow from 30 to 100 cities in the world over the coming three years for its deliveries.

Luc Partoune, CEO of Liege Airport explains: “Cainiao has chosen our airport for its flexibility, the quality of its services, its advantages consisting of its ideal localisation in Europe, the fact that it is open 24/7 and its connectivity with the other continents”.

“The e-commerce strategy in air cargo will truly revolutionise air transport and logistics processing. The digitisation of operations, their monitoring and robotisation are profoundly changing our businesses. Liege Airport is destined to become the cargo airport of the future and the partnership with Cainiao will contribute to this,” adds Partoune.

Cainiao and Alibaba also this week revealed they would invest $1.4 billion in courier ZTO Express in exchange for a 10 percent stake in the company.