Gofo, a US-founded, technology-driven last-mile carrier that has become a spearhead for Chinese e-commerce abroad, is expanding its French network ahead of the year-end peak. The centrepiece is its Lyon hub, now moved to a more modern site and about to receive an automated sorting system the company calls a first of its kind in France.
A denser, smaller sorter
The contrast with Gofo’s other French site tells the story. Its Bonneuil hub, in Val-de-Marne, runs a conventional linear sorter. The new Lyon machine does more in half the footprint: 870 sqm, handling 6,500 parcels an hour. It combines mechanical sorting with AI-equipped cameras, which Gofo credits with a 50% overall efficiency gain and the ability to automate sorting for more than 90% of parcel types.
Timed for the peak
None of this is by accident. Gofo has lined up recruitment and staff training against the installation schedule, aiming for an operational ramp-up between mid-October and full commissioning by the end of 2026. The point is to be ready when year-end volumes arrive rather than after.
Michel Naudin, deputy managing director of Gofo France, described the sorter as a technological step up for the French network, and said Lyon now becomes a central node in the company’s national coverage with processing capacity and reliability it had not reached before.