For airports in Southern Europe, this positioning offers unique advantages, particularly for trade lanes connecting Europe with Northern Africa and the wider Mediterranean region.
Marseille Provence Airport serves as a vital gateway for express cargo between Southern France, Corsica, and Northern Africa. With daily connections to major hubs like Brussels, Leipzig, Cologne, and Paris CDG, the airport supports a robust network that caters to the express shipping demands of the region.
Major express operators such as French Post, DHL, UPS, and FedEx have chosen Marseille Provence Airport as a primary node in their network, leveraging the airport’s connectivity and strategic location.
“From January to the end of September 2024, we handled around 40,000 tonnes of express cargo,” Jean-Marc Boutigny, Cargo Manager at Marseille Airport, remarked.
Advantages of Marseille’s location
Marseille’s strategic position makes it an ideal hub for airfreight operations. The airport is conveniently situated midway between Northern Spain and Northern Italy, allowing for efficient connections to both regions as well as to Corsica, Algeria, and Tunisia.
“Marseille benefits from the best location in Southern Europe,” Boutigny noted.
The airport’s connectivity with Northern Africa is particularly strong, with Air Algérie linking Marseille to 14 cities in Algeria. This includes a dedicated freighter service to Hassi Messaoud, an essential route for transporting drilling equipment to Algeria’s oil and gas industries.
This geographic advantage also translates into operational efficiencies. Shorter flight times between Marseille and Northern Africa reduce fuel consumption, aircraft depreciation, and overflight charges.
“These three factors combined result in a 40 to 45 percent reduction in operation costs on air cargo routes,” he continued.
“Each cargo operator benefits from a warehouse just in front of its freighters.
“Our motto is to always save time on the ramp handling operations thanks to shortest distances between freighters and warehouse.”
Ready for growth
Among the diverse types of cargo processed at Marseille Provence, perishable goods are experiencing a significant boom. Fresh organic fruits and vegetables from East African countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda arrive on Ethiopian Airlines’ direct flights from Addis Ababa. Additionally, the airport has seen a surge in garment shipments from China following the launch of Shanghai Airlines’ direct route from Shanghai to Marseille.
“Marseille can handle any type of aircrafts, such as the famous Antonov 124, which is chartered from time to time by our neighbour Airbus to deliver helicopters anywhere in the world,” Boutigny stated.
“Marseille Airport Authority is handling a state-of-the-art 1,000 sq m cold room facility, agreed by European Sanitary Inspectors.
“This first line warehouse is open 24/7, that’s why we even handle fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables with final destination Barcelona, Paris or even Amsterdam.”
