17 Jun
Europe’s cargo network is set for a significant capacity jump after two major investments were confirmed on opposite sides of the Rhine. Realterm has signed with Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ)—Germany’s second‑largest freight gateway—to build a tailor‑made complex that melds runway, warehouse and motorway access. At the same time DHL Express will open a high‑speed parcel gateway at Lyon‑Saint Exupéry Airport (LYS), tightening delivery times across southern and central Europe.
The Leipzig/Halle project will provide up to 45,000 sq m of flexible warehousing with stands for wide‑body freighters and dedicated truck staging, giving express, e‑commerce and specialist shippers almost instant transfers from aircraft to road. Realterm, whose recent builds include new cargo campuses at JFK and Chicago O’Hare, calls the German site “one of the most strategic pieces of air‑cargo real estate in Europe.” LEJ already handles 1.4 million tonnes per year thanks to 24/7 operations free of slot or payload restrictions, and airport managers see the new complex as the springboard for the next growth cycle.
South‑west of the Alps, DHL’s €121 million Lyon gateway—second only to its Paris‑CDG hub—will start sorting parcels this summer. Covering 50,000 sq m with direct runway links, the fully automated hub can process 17,500 items per hour, five times the current local capacity, and will shoulder booming demand from the Auvergne‑Rhône‑Alpes region, where DHL volumes have surged 20% since 2019. Sitting at the crossroads of north–south and east–west trade lanes, Lyon will speed up flows between Italy, Iberia, Benelux, the UK and the DACH nations while shrinking the carbon footprint through shorter feeder routes.
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