Ethiopian Airlines today inaugurated its state-of-the-art $150 million Cargo Terminal-II in Addis Ababa.
This gives the African carrier capacity of one million tonnes and once phase two opens it will give it another 600,000 tonnes and the new terminal adds to the existing Terminal 1.
Covering 150,000 square metres the new terminal includes a dry cargo terminal warehouse, perishable cargo area with cool chain storage, full automation, an apron area to accommodate five additional freighter aircraft and more.
The inauguration was attended by FDRE Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, minister of transport, Ahmed Shide, and Ethiopian Airlines chief executive officer, Tewolde GebreMariam, other government officials and participants of the Second ICAO Global Air Cargo Development Forum in Addis Ababa.
Desalegn, says: “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.”
GebreMariam adds: “The new Cargo Terminal-II combined with our existing Terminal-I will give us a total tonnage capacity of around one million 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.”
Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services operate eight freighters on 39 global routes with an average daily uplift of 650 tonnes on top of the belly capacity, 150 tonnes, to over 95 destinations globally.
