China is making a big push into Belgium.

Two major events have occurred there recently which demonstrate the increasing ties between the two countries: the launching of China’s Road and Belt Initiative (BRI) in October with Belgium that has resulted in direct block train service from Zhengzhou to Liège, and a trade agreement between the Belgium government and China’s Alibaba Group Holding Limited.

Liège and BRI

Belgium became the fourth European country, after the UK, the Czech Republic and Greece, to actively engage in China’s BRI. The goal is to better connect Asia, Europe and Africa and create multiple economic corridors encompassing more than 60 countries in Asia, North Africa and East Africa. These would link the East Asian Economic Zone with the European Economic Zone.

The direct block train service commenced on October 24, 2018, from Zhengzhou in central China to Liège in Belgium’s French-speaking Wallonia region. On March 2, the line launched a new freight line operating under customs surveillance code 9610, for cross-border e-commerce. Train operator Zhengzhou International Hub Development and Construction Co (ZIH) told Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, that it was the first such freight line in the country to operate under the customs code, which allows e-commerce retailers to deliver goods separately and declare all imported and exported goods collectively. The train is named, appropriately, Cainiao.

ZIH is a state-owned enterprise with logistics networks of railway, road, sea and air transportation.

Wallonia’s Liège Airport benefits from the BRI with the launch of new direct flights and freight rail connections commence between both countries.

Liège Airport operates as Belgium’s largest cargo airport and one of the most important air cargo hubs in continental Europe. Luc Partoune, CEO of Liege Airport, believes that Liege, because of its central location in Europe, “has developed a strategy regarding full cargo freighters that is the seventh-largest cargo airport in Europe and ranked in the top 30 in the world.”

Alibaba

The second major event was the agreement between the government of Belgium and Alibaba Group Holding Limited. Announced on December 5 last year, the agreement promotes inclusive trade between China’s Alibaba and Belgium under the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) initiative. This means both parties will work closely to co-build a more inclusive and innovative trade platform “to facilitate greater and more equitable access to cross-border trade opportunities, for small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs).”

A major element of the eWTP agreement is the establishment of a logistics infrastructure to support cross-border trade.

At the same time the agreement was signed, Cainiao Smart Logistics Network (the logistics arm of Alibaba Group) and Liège Airport signed a contract to lease 220,000 square metres (nearly 2.4 million square feet) to build a world class smart logistics hub at Liège Airport. The initial investment will be €75 million (US$83.5 million). Phase one is planned to commence operations in early 2021.

According to a press release issued by Alibaba Group, the new smart logistics hub will be the cornerstone of the eWTP infrastructure collaboration, with Alibaba playing a key role in facilitating trade, particularly for accessing the China market as part of the Group’s commitment to serve as the ‘Gateway to China’ and to help import US$200 billion worth of quality goods from the world to China over the next five years.

“As world trade continues to expand, Wallonia is an ideal logistics hub for global companies given our leading edge in cargo expertise and connectivity for block trains and seaports,” said Pierre-Yves Jeholet, regional minister for economy, trade and investment for the Belgian government.

In addition to Alibaba, already eight other Chinese companies have located to Liège Airport, reports Piette. Among them are ZIH, Sinotrans and 4PX. Alibaba operates a 380,000-square-metre warehouse at Liège Airport; Sinotrans, 73,000 square meters.

Alibaba has other hubs in Hong Kong, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur and Moscow.

“Alibaba will bring many changes to Wallonia’s logistics landscape, but we do not know how far they will go,” said Bernard Piette, general manager at Logistics in Wallonia. “We do want to make a link between Chinese and local companies.”

“Other companies will be attracted by the presence of Cainiao [Alibaba] and the opportunity for e-commerce growth between Europe and China,” said Luc Partoune, CEO of Liège Airport.

Last year, Liège Airport transported 870,644 tonnes of cargo, a 21.5% increase over 2017 tonnage figures.

Liège Airport

To sustain growth, Liège Airport has accelerated its investment programme. “In 2019 and 2020, more than 30,000 square metres (nearly 323,000 square feet) of warehousing will be made available to air cargo handlers,” reported Partoune.

Not all is China-related. Russia’s AirBridgeCargo (ABC) is expected to start using its first warehouse space at the airport by year’s end.

ABC recently announced that it has chosen Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) as its handling partner to accelerate its strategic partnership with Liège Airport ahead of the opening of the first phase of its new dedicated cargo area at the airport at the end of 2019. ABC’s parent company, Volga-Dnepr Group, and Liege signed an agreement to significantly increase cooperation between the two companies, boosting ABC’s volumes to and from Liège and placing the Belgian airport among the top five cargo airports in Europe by 2020.

This latest addition of WFS to the project comes as the partners progress with the construction phase of new warehouse premises to support’s ABC’s fast-growing freight volumes. This work will be divided into two phases for completion by the end of this year and mid-2020 respectively.

The first warehouse, to be 12,500 square metres in size, is expected to be operational in November 2019. The warehouse is expected to increase ABC’s current schedule of eight weekly frequencies from Liege to 30 flights per week by 2020.

The second phase is slated to be another 12,500 square metres to be completed next year.

By Karen E. Thuermer

Correspondent | Washington