Logistics company DHL Global Forwarding and Ethiopian Airlines have signed an agreement to form a joint venture company Cargo Logistics provider in DHL-Ethiopian Airlines Logistics Services Ltd.
"The joint venture deal will see DHL use Ethiopian Airline’s network to deliver its cargo," states a release from the Ethiopian Embassy.
Ethiopian will take a 51% stake and provide the regulatory as well as operational support. While DHL, with 47%, will establish air, ocean and road connections between the country’s main trade hubs and the rest of the world.
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Ethiopian Cargo currently boasts eight dedicated cargo aircraft. These are six B777-200 and two B757-200 freighters, with expectations to receive two more B777 freighters worth $615.4 million. It has a daily uplift capacity of more than 8,500 tonnes.
Mid last year, it opened up a new cargo terminal at its Bole airport hub in Addis Ababa to handle 600,000 tonnes. This was an upgrade to the existing terminal which can handle 400,000 tonnes. This raises its handling capacity to over one million tonnes.
The new company will be based in Ethiopia and carry out business all over Africa. This will enhance Ethiopia’s logistics infrastructure and connections.
Additionally, this will also offer DHL a bigger share of the last-mile delivery services from the hubs and cities that Ethiopian Airlines operates in.
However, another boost that this will have is building cross-border e-commerce logistics across the continent and the rest of the world.
When you combine DHL's last mile expertize and Ethiopian aviation's, then startups may not have to worry about how they will reach customers in markets where they may not have logistics partners or not fully set up.