Alibaba affiliate teams up with Air China Cargo to operate three-times weekly freighter service from Hangzhou to Belgian air cargo hub. Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, has launched its second air cargo service to Liège Airport (LGG).
It has teamed up with Air China Cargo to operate a new, cross-border e-commerce route between Hangzhou and the Belgian hub, using B777 freighters, with the aim of speeding up delivery times between China and Europe.
The route will be served three times weekly, flights continuing on from Liège to Madrid.
“Hangzhou-LGG is the next step of the expansion of the Air China Cargo operation. This cooperation will greatly benefit Cainiao Network to further bring down delivery times for Alibaba Group deliveries. Liege Airport Cargo community welcomes more #freightersfirst and connectivity,” said the airport’s VP Commercial, Steven Verhasselt.
Last month, Cainiao Network expanded its air freight capacity partnership with Volga-Dnepr Group (VDG), in response to growing demand from cross-border e-commerce shipments that has accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
VDG subsidiary AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) began operating a regular Hong Kong-Madrid two-way service for Cainiao with B747 freighters, carrying high-tech products and consumer goods exported by sellers on the AliExpress e-commerce platform. Liège also features on the itinerary.
Starting as a weekly frequency at its launch, provision was made to increase flights to three per week in August.
Cainiao in rapid expansion mode
Liège has been designated by Cainiao as one of its five global hubs, the others being located in Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Moscow and Hangzhou.
A €75 million project to build 220,000 sqm facility for Cainiao at Liège and which is scheduled to open next year, is progressing according to plan and is set to further boost expansion of the cargo airport’s already growing traffic, which is expected to break records again this year, Verhasselt told Lloyd’s Loading List last month.
In June this year, Cainiao unveiled plans to invest RMB 1 billion (almost US$144.5 million) in more flights and overseas warehouses with the aim of speeding up deliveries from China to destinations worldwide. The move is part of the group’s long-term strategic aim of offering package deliveries inside China within 24 hours and across the globe within 72 hours.
Cainiao has its sights on increasing its number of chartered flights to 1,260 from 260 over the next nine months – to around 35 per week – to reduce delivery times from 7-10 days to 3-5 days.
In May, it was reported that Cainiao and Chinese freight forwarder Sinotrans had forged a partnership with Atlas Air in which the airline will operate weekly B747-400F flights from Hong Kong to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Santiago, Chile, with other routes to follow.
Liège cargo throughput continues to rise
2019 was a record year for cargo traffic at Liège, and provisional figures for the first six months of 2020 (H1) show that throughput was up 11% on the same period last year, Verhasselt revealed.
“We definitely hope to be able to consolidate this H1 performance in the second half of the year,” he added. “The high level of demand has put a lot of pressure on all service providers at Liège, but we’ll keep working hard to make sure the peaks in traffic don’t create dips in throughput times and impact service quality.”
Handling more than 900,000 tonnes of transported goods a year, Liège Airport has grown and developed rapidly in recent years to become Belgium’s largest freight airport and the fastest-growing cargo airport in Europe.
Source: Lloyd’s
