Africa’s most modern air-cargo-terminal

Freight hub for Africa

With a fleet of 24 aircrafts Ethiopian Airlines is the largest airline in Africa. The people responsible for the state-owned airline have set as their objective to establish Addis Abeba as the central freight hub for the African continent. In this respect the transport of perishable goods is playing an increasingly greater role. The indispensable requirement for trade with the industrial states is professional storage, perfect documentation and the swift transfer of perishable goods.

The computer controlled facility has a capacity of 104,000 tons of freight per annum. It has an automatic ULD warehouse with 200 spaces, of which 75 are cooled.

The input and exit of these aluminium containers, which have a weight of up to 6.8 tons is carried out by two automatic elevating transfer vehicles.The brain of the cargo terminal is the inventory control system (ICS).

The control system, which is based on the UniWare software platform administers all warehouse spaces and coordinates the automatic movements.

Scope of Unitechnik contribution:

Control technology:

• 4 x Simatic S7-400
• Profibus DP

Inventory Control System:

• Cluster server
• Gigabit-LAN and WLAN
• Wireless fork lift truck terminals
• AWB handling
• Web connection with customs and SITA host in London (web services)

Control cabinets assembly
commissioning
training
assistance in production

Overall responsibility:
ICM Airport Technics GmbH

Completion: 2006