FedEx Express and Milan airports operator SEA have started construction of a new facility to triple the express operator’s capacity at Malpensa airport, which will become its third-largest hub in Europe after Paris and Cologne.
SEA is investing €15 million in the building, which will be completed by summer 2016, while FedEx Express plans to invest several million euros in equipment, systems and facilities for the new structure.
Covering more than 35,000 sqm, the new, highly-automated structure will be equipped with the latest technological systems and devices. The new facility will consist of 15,000 sqm of covered warehouse, 20,000 sqm for vehicles manoeuvring and parking, and more than 1,000 sqm of office space.
FedEx expects to handle about 20,000 daily shipments at the new facility, which will employ about 200 staff and also have a fleet of 27 vehicles for pick-ups and deliveries. The company operates 44 weekly flights to and from Malpensa and also uses 480 weekly land connections operated by service providers.
Vito Bernardi, managing director, Properties and Fleet for FedEx EMEA, said: “Malpensa is directly connected, by land and air, with our 35 offices located throughout Italy. Here in Malpensa we have been the only express delivery company since 1994, and are still growing in this country. This shows how much we believe in Malpensa and in the future growth potential of an airport that continues to invest heavily in cargo traffic. It is the fundamental base for our business, for the operational features intrinsic to the airport facility and business opportunities in the area.”
FedEx Express, the fourth-largest customer of Malpensa airport for cargo, is the first courier directly connected with the United States thanks to the direct flight between Milan Malpensa and Memphis, the only express flight in freight transport on this route providing the fastest transit times from northern Italy to the United States. The company launched B777F flights on the route in 2012.
Meanwhile, FedEx has been expanding strongly in Italy in recent years and now has over 35 branches along with a workforce of about 1,300 people.
"FedEx’s expansion in Malpensa is part of a broader growth strategy in the European and MEISA regions (Middle East, Indian Subcontinent & Africa), that saw the opening of more than 100 new branches in three years, the acquisition of three local companies (France, Poland and South Africa) and the hiring of more than 6,400 new team members,” Bernardi explained. “The recent investments of the company in Italy fall within the same strategy, with 24 new branches opened in less than three years, 300 jobs created, and the introduction of the first and only direct flight from Italy to the FedEx global hub in Memphis.”
The new FedEx gateway facility is part of the airport operator’s €100 million investment plan for the expansion of the freight traffic infrastructure in the southern area of Malpensa’s Cargo City over the next couple of years. Three new warehouses of more than 15,000 sqm each will be added to the two existing ones of 20,000 sqm each, doubling the airport’s handling capacity to about one million tonnes from 500,000 tonnes a year at present.
"Malpensa is the first cargo airport in Italy, and it handles 55% of total Italian goods traffic,” said Giulio De Metrio, chief operating officer of SEA. “It is also registering the fastest growth in Europe, reporting in 2014 a traffic increase by 9.1% compared to 2013; it continued this positive trend also in 2015: in the first eight months, it had a further increase of 8.5 % compared to the same period in 2014 (+ 20% compared to January-August 2013).
“This is an encouraging performance at a very difficult time for the economy, that, thanks to export flows, reported better results than pre-crisis levels,” De Metrio added. “FedEx is the fourth-largest customer of Malpensa airport for cargo and is the first courier directly connected with the United States thanks to the direct flight Milan-Malpensa Memphis, the only Express Courier direct flight on this route that provides the fastest transit times from northern Italy to the entire North American market."
