Envirotainer has signed a global master lease agreement with Ethiopian Airlines.

“This newly signed global master lease agreement with Ethiopian Airlines is very welcomed, particularly since it is our first with an African-based airline that has invested so much in newly built facilities and services for the safe handling of pharmaceutical and life sciences products,” said Bourji Mourad, head of global partner management at Envirotainer.

Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services, a division of Ethiopian Airlines, inaugurated its second cargo terminal in Addis Ababa in 2017, featuring an enhanced cold chain facility which allows the airline to store and handle temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical shipments. Together with the existing first terminal, the carrier has a total tonnage capacity of around 1 million tonnes per year.

“We are very pleased to be the first African airline partnering with Envirotainer,” said Fitsum Abady, MD of Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services. “In this highly lucrative market the application of active temperature-controlled containers play a vital role for the protection and safety of time- and temperature-sensitive healthcare products both onboard and on the ground throughout the supply chain. This commercial partnership with Envirotainer significantly fuels our aim on providing superior protection and seamless connectivity through our sales networks stretched across the five continents.”

Ethiopian has already completed the induction process for the temperature-controlled containers from Envirotainer.

“The on-ground training for how to handle our Envirotainer units went really well,” said Jörg Krings, global partner manager at Envirotainer. “It’s a key element to guarantee the correct process implementation.”

Ethiopian Cargo currently operates a fleet of two Boeing 757 freighters and six 777Fs, and has two 737-800Fs and four 777Fs on order.