Africa’s largest cargo operator, Ethiopian Airlines, has inaugurated its Cargo Terminal-II facility at home hub Addis Ababa
The ceremony was attended by Ethiopia’s prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, transport minister Ahmed Shide and Ethiopian Airlines Group chief executive Tewolde GebreMariam, along with participants from the ICAO Cargo Forum being held in Addis Ababa.
Desalegn said: “Today, the national flag carrier has become the largest aviation group and the fastest growing airline in Africa, unrivalled in efficiency with shining operational excellence. Above all, Ethiopian Airlines has played an important and irreplaceable role in the development of the economy, export and import activities and foreign exchange earnings.”
Tewolde acknowledged the partners who contributed to the completion of the project and said: “The new Cargo Terminal-II combined with our existing Terminal-I will give us a total tonnage capacity of around 1m per annum which is the largest in the continent of Africa.
“This milestone will make Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services one of the world’s largest cargo terminals; comparable with cargo terminals in Amsterdam Schiphol, Singapore Changi or Hong Kong.”
Covering a total area of 150,000 sq m the new facility includes a dry cargo terminal warehouse, a perishable cargo terminal with cool chain storage, fully automated with elevating transport vehicle (ETV) technology and an apron area for five additional large freighter aircraft.
The new terminal is also fitted with different climate chambers for storage and handling of temperature sensitive products such as fresh agricultural products, pharmaceuticals and life Science Products.
