SATS Group company, Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), is expanding its specialized e-commerce and freight forwarder handling (EFFH) services at Frankfurt Airport to meet the growth in the region. It recently signed a long-term lease for two warehouses at Europe’s largest cargo hub, which will come into effect in JAN26. Last year, cargo volumes in Frankfurt rose 6.2% year-on-year to 2.1 million tons, largely due to e-commerce. WFS has long been committed to developing business at Frankfurt Airport, in partnership with Fraport. Their joint subsidiary, Frankfurt Cargo Services (FCS), provides cargo handling services for airlines.
Under the new lease agreement, WFS will take over two warehouses and two office buildings on a 24,000 m² site within the airport’s Cargo City South. The facilities will be equipped with ULD handling systems and volume and dimension scanners to speed up shipment processing. Once the facility is fully operational, WFS will be able to handle up to 100,000 tons of import and export cargo annually for e-commerce and freight forwarding customers.
Strategically located at the entrance to Cargo City South, the warehouse is ideally positioned to efficiently handle truck shuttle services between the front-line transshipment halls and the freight forwarders’ warehouses in the Cargo City area, as well as international transshipments – including those operating within WFS’s own European road transport network. WFS’s EFFH service prepares cargo for transport, records weight and dimensions, and provides crate packing, repacking, security checks, consolidation, shipping labeling, and transport between freight forwarders and handling agents. It also includes final consolidation of imports, sorting, preparation of shipments for customs clearance, and onward transport by road.
Marc Claesen, Senior Vice President Northern Europe & Africa at WFS, explained: “As a leading air cargo hub, Frankfurt is an important hub for global freight forwarders and large e-commerce shippers serving the German and European markets. As a pioneer in the development of a new range of services that address the increasing complexity of the air cargo value chain, WFS/SATS welcomes this opportunity to introduce our comprehensive EFFH services to our customers in Frankfurt. Freight forwarders and e-commerce shippers appreciate the efficiency, reduced number of touch points, and faster throughput for all parties involved that our EFFH solutions provide. We see strong growth potential in Frankfurt.”
