Air Canada Cargo has moved more than 250,000 tonnes of freight through its Toronto Pearson International Airport terminal in the first ten full months since switching to Lödige Industries' Cargo Professional control system — a milestone that closes the first year of the carrier's terminal modernisation programme.

The cutover itself was tightly executed. At midnight on 30 September 2025, the terminal's legacy control system was switched off and replaced by Lödige's technology. One hour later, operations resumed on Cargo Professional, supported by 24/7 maintenance and remote monitoring through the Lödige Industries Customer Care Center (CCC). Engineering, software, production and on-site teams coordinated the transition to keep cargo moving throughout the go-live.

The project spanned both the low-level PLC control layer and the high-level ULD management system. By consolidating system processes onto a single data platform, Cargo Professional cuts manual input, reduces error risk and gives operators greater transparency across terminal operations — capabilities Air Canada Cargo describes as a "stable digital foundation" for more efficient handling and the next stages of automation.

For shippers and forwarders routing freight through Toronto, one of Canada's most important air cargo hubs, the payoff is straightforward: a control environment that has run reliably at scale for a year, handling in excess of a quarter of a million tonnes without the disruption that typically accompanies major systems replacements. For Air Canada Cargo, the single-platform architecture creates the flexibility needed for future expansion and automation without another wholesale systems swap.

"The first year of live operation demonstrates what is possible when software, controls, engineering, and service are considered as one integrated system. Delivering the transition without disrupting ongoing cargo operations was an important milestone. A year of reliable operation at this scale confirms the strength of the digital foundation we have created together and provides a solid basis for the next stages of modernization," said Jonathan Hardy, Managing Director at Lödige Industries North America.

Those next stages are already defined. Air Canada Cargo is now entering the second phase of its terminal modernisation, with plans for a new Elevating Transfer Vehicle (ETV) and a Mobile Transfer Device (MTD). Key areas of the terminal are also being prepared for a future Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS). Together, the equipment additions target improvements in ULD handling, material flow and operational flexibility at Pearson.

The Pearson project underscores a broader pattern in North American air cargo: carriers are investing in terminal automation and unified data platforms to squeeze throughput out of existing infrastructure rather than wait on new capacity. Air Canada Cargo's next moves — the ETV, MTD and eventual ASRS — will determine how much additional tonnage the modernised terminal can absorb as demand through Toronto builds.