FedEx commits to France in massive hub expansion at Charles de Gaulle Airport

Logistics giant FedEx is expanding its distribution hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport in a 30-year agreement costing at least €200 million.  

Once completed, this new facility will be one of the world’s most advanced express logistics hubs, featuring technology that will boost package sorting capacity by more than 40 percent. President of the French Republic, François Hollande, was in attendance at the project annoucement. 

FedEx Express is the world’s largest express transportation company and a subsidiary of FedEx Corp.

 “This investment is part of the company’s network expansion strategy, creating more capacity and enabling more business connections in Europe and around the world,” said David Binks, president, FedEx Express Europe and CEO, TNT. “This new expansion, coupled with the recent TNT acquisition, supports the evolving needs of our customers and the global marketplace while increasing our ability to support trends like cross-border e-commerce.”

Construction is set to begin in the summer of 2017 and the facility is scheduled to be operational by 2019. Upon completion, the CDG hub will include an automated sorting system for large, over-sized packages, which is a worldwide first for FedEx Express and an increasing market trend as e-commerce continues to grow.

The new building will be HQE and BREEAM certified, which means that it will be built with non-polluting materials and equipped with LED lighting. In conjunction with this major investment, FedEx anticipates the expansion will create new positions, adding to the current workforce at CDG.

“At FedEx, we have the ability to pick up, transport and deliver an item from 95 percent of the people on the planet, and most every business in the world, within one to two business days,” said David Bronczek, president & CEO, FedEx Express. “This strategic expansion in Paris is n example of how we will continue to invest to move goods faster and more reliably across borders, which means our customers can decrease costs, improve their supply chain and identify new opportunities for growth and profitability.”

FedEx Express has been active in France since 1985, with CDG becoming its main European hub in 1999 and the largest FedEx hub outside of the US. In addition, the company’s hub in Cologne, Germany and the TNT hub in Liege, Belgium will be maintained as significant operations for the group moving forward.

TNT will soon open a ground hub just North of Paris in the Ile de France region along with three TNT ground depots. The investment in the TNT network will also improve connectivity between France, Europe, and the rest of the world.

FedEx has made significant investments in France over the past years, including opening 19 stations since 2011 and acquiring the French domestic carrier Tatex in 2012. FedEx now has a presence in 48 French cities.

Read the October 2016 issue of Business Review Europe magazine. 

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