Ethiopian Airlines to open Africa’s largest cargo terminal

Ethiopian Airlines is upgrading the infrastructure at its Addis Ababa Bole International Airport hub to create the largest air cargo terminal in Africa, which the airline will inaugurate June 29 while it hosts the second ICAO Global Air Cargo Development Forum.

Ethiopian’s new cargo Terminal-II, combined with the existing Terminal-I, will create a total tonnage capacity of 1 million per annum, according to Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Tewolde Gebremariam.

The combined cargo terminal encompasses a total area of 1.6 million sq. ft. and includes a dry cargo terminal warehouse, a perishable cargo terminal with cool chain storage, fully automated elevating transport vehicles, an office building and an apron area that can accommodate five widebody freighters, among other improvements.

The new terminal adds 600,000 in annual tonnage capacity on a 430,556 sq. ft. footprint. The 236,806 sq. ft. dry cargo facility will allow 264,000 in annual tonnage capacity; the 193,750 sq. ft. perishable cargo facility will accommodate 336,000 tons in annual storage capacity.

“Infrastructure development [is] one of the four pillars of our … growth strategic roadmap Vision 2025,” Gebremariam said. “We have been making massive investments in infrastructure projects to modernize and expand our cargo facilities at a total cost $150 million.”

Upon completion of a second phase, which will add 600,000 tons in annual uplift capacity, Ethiopian Cargo and Logistics Services will have one of the world’s largest cargo terminals, Gebremariam said, a capability equivalent to cargo terminals in Amsterdam Schiphol, Singapore Changi or Hong Kong.

Ethiopian operates a freighter fleet of six Boeing-777Fs and two 757Fs to 39 destinations in Africa, the Gulf, the Middle East, Asia and Europe with an average daily uplift of 650 tons.

Bellyhold capacity on Ethiopian’s passenger aircraft fleet includes 150 tons of cargo per day, delivered to over 95 destinations globally.