At a grand event, held in Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, the African carrier launched a sorting and distribution terminal for e-commerce shipments and mail services. The newly built facility is aimed at bridging logistical gaps and positioning Addis Ababa as the cross-border e-commerce logistics hub for the African continent and beyond. The building is equipped with state-of-the art technology and meticulously implemented systems, states the airline in a release. As a result, the facility will offer a variety of services including consolidation, deconsolidation, sortation, repacking, labeling and more. Customers can now track and trace their shipments effortlessly from anywhere.
At the launching ceremony of the new facility, Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Mesfin Tasew stated: “The inauguration of this cutting-edge e-commerce logistics facility is a significant breakthrough for Ethiopian Airlines Group and the entire African economy. We have implemented high-end technologies in the infrastructure that revolutionize the way goods are transported and delivered in the e-commerce industry in Africa.”
The executive went on to say: “Through this facility, Ethiopian Airlines paves the way for development of e-commerce services in Ethiopia and the African continent. We are glad to witness that our investment of 55 million USD has indeed paid off and enabled us to set the e-commerce industry in the continent to follow the global trend.”
Built on 15,000 square meters of area, the facility boasts a capacity to handle 150,000 tons annually. Encouraged by the trend, the number of e-traders doing business in African countries, besides Ethiopia especially in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa is growing rapidly. There are more than 450 million internet users, which is the second-largest internet-user population on the planet, just after China. However, unlike on the American continent, in Europe or in most East Asian countries, there are severe barriers, since in many African cities there is no address system. For delivering the goods to the customer, it needs a local partner who knows the consumer. Otherwise addresses such as “living in the second street by the supermarket with the red painted door” might lead to delays – at best.
