Freighters play an fundamental role at Belgium’s Liege Airport (LGG). For the reason that airport’s inception in the mid-1990s, air cargo has constantly been prioritised, providing an supreme foundation for bother-free and top quality cargo operations.
With its central location in the European “Golden Triangle” and unrestricted, entirely flexible 24/7 operation, as well to actual infrastructure and going by products and companies, the airport has transformed itself from a predicament participant to a European powerhouse in all-cargo web page online visitors. Namely since LGG has been granted its environmental enable to map except 2040 with little restrictions, which provide a enhance to the event of the airport.
This was as soon as mirrored in web page online visitors figures, with 2023 seeing LGG airport take care of extra than 1,000,000 tonnes of aviation cargo and 25,000 freighter actions, placing Liege Airport as the fifth largest European cargo hub. Around 50 cargo airlines relieve LGG on a scheduled or constitution basis, and in 2023, about 435,000,000 e-commerce shipments handed by strategy of the hub.
At the novel time, freighter carriers can use the products and companies of 5 first-line handlers and several second-line operators. There is 200,000 m² of first-line warehouse space on the market, at the side of designated sections for processing perishables and pharmaceuticals, as well to the eminent “Horse Inn” offers a 5-important person horse provider; with about 7,000 high-price horses passing by LGG every 365 days.
“Liège could perchance well be an unpretentious, runt city, nevertheless its airport is an mammoth deal. It is far in the center of the so-known as Golden Triangle, which contains Amsterdam, Paris, and Frankfurt and handles two-thirds of all European freight,” Frederic Brun, Liege Airport’s Head of Commercial cargo and Logistics, mentioned.
“Transporting extra freight than either of Brussels’ two global airports, and ranking third in the country for passenger web page online visitors.
“Liege Airport makes all the pieces as straightforward and flexible as most likely for its prospects, and no varied European airport has better access to motorways or a rail network.”
Operations and intermodality
With a spotlight on particular industries which could perchance well be predominant to both airlines and freight forwarders, LGG sees most likely in managing perishable items comparable to vegetation, in particular when combined with e-commerce.
Velocity is serious, and LGG is fortunate to absorb priceless authorities who map all over the clock, allowing us to decided and lift fleet to the last hub. Belgium is smartly-identified worldwide for its medicines, aerospace, and automotive industries, amongst varied issues. A pair of of the largest freight forwarders absorb furthermore picked it as their EU pharma heart, which provides legitimacy.
“The port of Antwerp-Bruges is the ideal favorite cargo port in the sphere, and LGG airport is found discontinuance to it by strategy of a obvious network of rivers and waterways,” Brun highlighted.
“As diesel costs proceed to rise, this area arises over and all but again. I need to emphasise that the port of Liege is the third largest inland port in all of Europe.
“In addition, “rolling highways,” or autos transported by prepare, lift Asian commodities to Southeast Europe and beyond.
“All of this can build LGG a multimodal platform the put all industry players, at the side of freight forwarders, can mix, dispatch, and add price to their items.
“We’ve partnered with all the quite so a lot of vital logistics platforms in Belgium to promote this contemporary multimodal offer in the worldwide logistics world.”