EU’s €3 parcel fee reshapes cargo flows at Liege Airport

The European Union's €3 customs duty on low-value shipments has "profoundly altered the structure of imports" at Belgium's Liege Airport, with the facility reporting an immediate reorganisation of e-commerce cargo flows since the charge took effect on July 1, according to Air Cargo News.aircargonews

The disclosure from one of Europe's busiest cargo hubs offers the clearest evidence yet that the bloc's decision to scrap the long-standing duty-free threshold for parcels valued under €150 is reshaping cross-border logistics at speed.

Impact on Cargo Flows

Liege Airport, which handled 697,816 tonnes of cargo in the first half of 2026 — an 11.3% year-on-year increase — had been riding a wave of e-commerce-driven growth before the regulation landed. The airport now serves as a case study in how quickly trade policy can redirect freight patterns.indexbox+1

Industry data reported in recent weeks shows European air cargo demand weakening on the China-Europe trade lane, with freighter capacity from Asia dipping by roughly 19% as package volumes cooled under the new rules. Some carriers have begun rerouting shipments to alternative European hubs or consolidating flows to reduce per-item customs costs.linkedin+2

The temporary €3 duty applies per item in a consignment based on tariff classification — not per parcel — and will remain in force until July 1, 2028, when the EU Customs Data Hub becomes operational and standard category-specific duties take over.taxation-customs.europa+1

Consumer Behaviour Shifts in Poland

The regulation's effects extend beyond logistics infrastructure. In Poland, the number of users on Chinese e-commerce platforms fell sharply in July, according to data from Mediapanel cited by business daily Puls Biznesu. Temu PDD Holdings Inc. ↗ 0.74% lost more than 20% of its Polish users month-on-month, dropping from 16.68 million in June to 13.1 million in July. AliExpress Alibaba Group Holding Limited ↗ 1.35% saw a decline of more than 15%, falling from 9.975 million users to 8.43 million over the same period.tvpworld

In 2024, approximately 4.6 billion low-value e-commerce consignments entered the EU, 91% from China — a figure that had doubled from 2023.tvpworld

Industry Adapts

Liege Airport's logistics community, branded CargoLand, is positioning itself as a model for navigating the new regulatory environment. A panel at the EU CBEC 2026 conference, scheduled for September 8–10 in Liège, will bring together customs officials, trade lawyers, and logistics operators to discuss practical solutions.freightweek+1

Chinese platforms, meanwhile, face pressure to shift inventory into EU-based warehouses to serve European customers from within the bloc and sidestep import duties — a strategy that could further alter the composition of air cargo demand in the months ahead.tvpworld