Finnair has formally inaugurated its COOL Nordic cargo terminal at its Helsinki hub.

According to Finnair, the opening of the new 31,000-square-metre facility is the culmination of four years of project planning. The project consists of the terminal building itself, a warehouse automation system, the COOL Control Center and the SkyChain digital cargo management system developed by Accelya.

“Altogether more than 1,200 professionals from over 300 Finnish companies worked to complete the terminal,” said Pekka Vauramo [left in photo], CEO of Finnair. “Once the building was up, our partners from various countries worked hard to integrate and test all the systems that are such an essential part of this hub.”

Finnair Cargo commenced partial operations at the terminal’s temperature-controlled area for perishable shipments in October 2017. The 25,000-square-metre general cargo area and dedicated pharmaceuticals section are scheduled to begin operations in January 2018.

“The January ‘go-live’ of the entire terminal is an exciting prospect, but I am even more excited about the things that will happen afterward,” said Janne Tarvainen [right in photo], managing director of Finnair Cargo. “Our state-of-the-art digital platforms – SkyChain cargo management system, Lödige warehouse automation system, Cargo Eye operations management system and COOL Control Center – give us the tools to create more value for our customers with speed, quality and new products as we move forward from here.”