In early April 2025, Lombardy’s logistics sector is facing an employment crisis due to the shutdown of Geodis’s Carpiano facility, in Italy, which currently employs 95 people. The decision is directly linked to the termination of the contract with Amazon, which has opted to entrust its logistics operations to another provider, Ceva Logistics. The announcement has sparked protests from the trade unions Filt Cgil, Fit Cisl and Uiltrasporti. On 7 April, workers staged a demonstration outside the Carpiano site, denouncing what they describe as yet another “foreseeable crisis” in Lombardy’s logistics industry. Unless alternative solutions are found, the facility will cease operations by July 2025, leaving eighty warehouse workers and fifteen administrative employees without a job.
The closure comes just over a year after Geodis renewed its lease agreement with Burstone Europe. In December 2023, the company extended the lease until 2029, agreeing to an annual rent of 2.5 million euros, or roughly 54 euros per square metre—an increase of 10.6 percent compared to the previous rate. The investment appeared to signal a long-term strategy, which has now been contradicted by current events. The Carpiano warehouse, spanning approximately 46,000 square metres, had become a strategic hub for Amazon’s e-commerce operations in Lombardy since 2015. The partnership with the US tech giant had driven a rapid expansion of the facility, growing from 26,900 to over 44,000 square metres, with peak periods seeing more than 40,000 items processed per day.
Despite these figures, the site has not been without issues. In July 2024, workers affiliated with the SiCobas union staged a strike to protest against inadequate contractual conditions and widespread job insecurity. Moreover, this is not the first site Geodis has shut down in Lombardy. In 2023, the company closed its Landriano hub in Pavia, affecting 256 employees.
The termination of the Amazon contract has had immediate consequences. According to the e-commerce giant, the decision to switch providers followed “a thorough assessment of the logistics network, in response to evolving operational requirements”. The operations will be transferred to Ceva Logistics, at the Somaglia site in the southern part of the Lodi province. However, the future of the 95 workers at Carpiano remains uncertain. Amazon has merely expressed the hope that “Geodis will offer relocation options and activate the available social support measures”.
The trade unions have taken a firm stance. Adel Desouky, Filt Cgil’s coordinator for Lombardy, stated: “We will not allow 95 families to be abandoned for yet another operation that prioritises private financial interests at the expense of people’s dignity.” Davide Contu, from Filt Cgil Milan, pointed out that the decision breaches the job protection clause typically applied during contractor changes, which is meant to ensure the transfer of staff to the new provider. The three unions are calling for an urgent meeting with the Lombardy Region, the Metropolitan City of Milan and the Municipality of Carpiano, in order to take prompt action to safeguard jobs and counter what they describe as an “industrial decline”.
Here is the full statement released by Amazon on the matter: “We trust our service providers and believe that Geodis will offer its employees a range of options, starting with the provision of similar roles in the area where possible, as well as by activating the relevant social support measures. Amazon’s decision to terminate its relationship with the Geodis site in Carpiano is based on commercial considerations, following a thorough assessment of our logistics network in response to evolving operational requirements.”
