News / Cainiao halts airport expansion plan at Liège, while drones delay cargo flow

@Liege Airport

Cainiao Smart Network, the logistics arm of Chinese ecommerce behemoth Alibaba, has abandoned plans for its second-phase expansion at Liège Airport (LGG) following a change in strategy, according to a senior Wallonia government official.

Economy minister Pierre-Yves Jeholet said the company had decided to “focus on operating its existing infrastructure”, but underlined that “Cainiao remains a strategic partner of the airport”.

Cainiao has operated from a 30,000 sq metre logistics building at LGG since the end of 2021, employing 276 staff.

It has acquired plots of land near the airport in recent years with the aim of building two additional facilities, to add some 44,000 sq metres of warehouse space, at the Belgian cargo hub, expected to create several hundred jobs. A third-phase development was also mooted.

LGG serves as a hub for Cainiao’s intercontinental flights and pan-European road distribution network, its facility handling an average of 70 flights a week and 60 trucks daily.

Both Cainiao and at Liège Airport were approached for comment.

In its latest LinkedIn post, Cainiao said: “With the Thanksgiving ecommerce peak season just around the corner, Cainiao Liège eHub is fully operational and ready to handle the expected surge in parcel volume. We are excited to support the growth of global cross-border trade during this busy period.”

It noted that Liège Airport remained one of the most important global partners for Alibaba and Cainiao, and that this strategic relationship remained unchanged, a commitment “reflected in the continued expansion of Alibaba’s cross-border ecommerce business in Europe” it said, adding: “We remain strongly confident in the long-term potential of the European market.”

Meanwhile, a post on LGG’s Facebook page said that  discussions would take place with Cainiao “for an amicable termination of the contract between the two parties, and no legal proceedings are expected to be initiated for this purpose”.

It said: “Liège Airport would thus recover the land acquired by Cainiao without any issues. Furthermore, given the good relations between the two parties, the penalties provided for in the contract are not expected to be claimed, or only the minimum amount.”

Belgian media quoted a spokesperson for the airport who said that LGG had received numerous inquiries from international companies that would like to acquire the land Cainiao had earmarked for development.

There is speculation that that the halt in Cainiao’s expansion at LGG reflects growing competition from Alibaba’s rival Chinese ecommerce marketplaces, in particular retailers Shein and Temu which currently ship significant volumes through the airport.

Separately, during Tuesday evening and the early hours of Wednesday morning this week, flights at both Liège and Brussels airports were disrupted by the presence of drones.

“We don’t know who is behind it… it’s still under investigation in various countries across Europe. So it’s definitely a new problem we’re facing – a new threat to airports,” a Liège Airport spokesperson told Belgian media RTBF.

At LGG, at least six flights were unable to land and three departures were delayed.

“I’m sure that during the night, there were others (flights) that were affected, because it (drone activity) didn’t stop completely. We resumed operations around 3.30am Wednesday morning.”

The spokesperson added: “Once you divert a plane full of cargo to an airport abroad, your entire logistics chain is put out of kilter, and then there are all the knock-on effects.”