Brussels Airport reveals €100m investment in cargo facilities

Brussels Airport has revealed plans to invest €100m in new logistics facilities as it looks to ensure it can meet future demand.
The investments include a building of no less than 50,000 sq m on the west side of Brucargo – the hub’s cargo area – with direct apron connection for four different companies.
Forwarder Kuehne + Nagel and ground handlers Dnata and WFS will be among the companies making use of these buildings for shipping, packaging and temporarily stocking cargo.
"The new infrastructure is also specifically suited for the handling of high-quality and temperature-sensitive products, such as pharmaceuticals," the airport said.
The airport will also redevelop existing handling buildings that have direct access to the tarmac.
Over the next three years, the building in which handling agent Swissport is active will be modernised and have a surface area of 30,000 sq m.
An additional new building will provide a secured area for the specific transport of extremely valuable goods. Brinks will be moving into this building in 2019.
Part of the investment will go to an exclusive animal border inspection area of more than 2,500 sq m,  fitted out in various temperature and/or light areas to create the perfect environment for all types of animals.
Brussels Airport Company chief executive Arnaud Feist said: “These investments are of huge importance for the logistics landscape in Belgium and are entirely in line with our Strategic Vision for 2040.
"With these investments, Brussels Airport will remain in the future a crucial hub for air transport and the logistic chains in Europe, at the service of many hundreds of companies in our country.
“It is also a strategic objective to offer more and in particularly even better support to the many companies who work through air cargo transport and enabling them to more easily import and export their goods from and to the whole world. This not only ensures employment at the airport itself, but also in various other sectors in all parts of the country.”
More than a hundred different players in the logistics chain are currently active at Brucargo.
In recent years (between 2009 and 2013), three large air cargo buildings have been developed and most recently  DHL Express opened a 31,500 sq m sorting centre at the airport.
Last year, cargo demand at the airport increased by 8.3% to 535,634 tons, its highest volumes in the last ten years.
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