Airline company Ethiopian Airlines makes room for more roses

Ethiopian Airlines opened its new air cargo terminal, which is comparable to Schiphol, Singapore Changi, or Hong Kong terminals, according to Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO of the Ethiopian.

The annual airfreight at Addis Ababa increased from 175,600 tonnes in 2014 to 211,700 in 2016 while the volume in Nairobi fell from 259,100 to 231,700 tonnes in the same period, according to data from ICAO.

With a total area of 150,000 square meters, the new terminal handles one million tonnes sensitive products such pharmaceuticals, Life Science products and fresh flowers per annum.

Ethiopia is the home base to one of the largest rose farms in the world: Afriflora Sher. The farm is next to Lake Ziway at a height of 1,650 meter above sea level, approximately a three hour drive from Addis Ababa.

The greenhouse complex has a size of 1,300 soccer fields and the farm grows over 65 different types of roses. There are around three to four million roses processed everyday for export by air to the flower auction in Aalsmeer – the Netherlands.

The Ethiopian flower industry represents an extraordinarily fast and successful diversification into a non-traditional export product. The Ethiopian flower industry emerged in early 2000, and in 2016 it had become the fourth largest flower industry in the world. Projections are for even further future growth. Exports are expected to reach over $550 million in 2017.