FedEx to invest €1.4 billion in Paris CDG facility overhaul

FedEx Express is expanding its distribution hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport with a €200 million investment in technology and automation, and a €1.2 billion, 30-year lease. The 30-year lease underscores the long-term importance of the European Union to the company’s long-term plans. Once completed, FedEx said the upgrade will increase sorting capacity by 40 percent.

Construction is scheduled to start in mid-2017 and the facility should be operational by 2019, FedEx said. Upon completion, the 25,000-square-meter facility will make Paris FedEx’s second-largest distribution center after its Memphis hub.

The CDG facility will include the first automated sorting system for large, oversized packages in the FedEx Express system, an increasingly necessary feature as e-commerce continues to grow.

David Bronczek, president and CEO of FedEx Express, explained that, “This strategic expansion in Paris is an example of how we will continue to invest to move goods faster and more reliably across borders.”

“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,” added David Binks, president of FedEx Express Europe and CEO of TNT.

FedEx has opened 19 stations in France since 2011, and acquired the French domestic carrier Tatex in 2012, boosting its presence in France to 48 cities.