Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of air cargo was in the spotlight for several reasons.
As shipping bottlenecks and delays worsened, air cargo allowed freight to be quickly transported across the globe. And as vaccines became available, the industry was tasked with distributing billions of doses to every corner of the world. The latter placed a greater emphasis on temperature-sensitive solutions to handle specifics such as pharmaceutical requirements.
To facilitate the needs of cargo carriers, ULD manufacturers and fleet managers are assisting customers with new generation technology.
Cargo During the Pandemic
Over the course of the pandemic, cargo volumes boomed, explains Ross Marino, CEO at Unilode Aviation Solutions. As a result of the pandemic, he says passenger loads bottomed out to almost nothing and many airlines survived on cargo revenues.
“We found during the pandemic that as passenger loads declined, we saw less need for the container fleet because typically baggage is transported in containers. And we saw the need for pallets really climb as cargo loads were prominent,” says Marino, whose company boasts a fleet of approximately 160,000 ULD units. “We went from having a fairly balanced use of containers and pallets prior to the pandemic, shifting very much towards pallets due to the increase in cargo volumes.”
According to Fredrik Linnér, chief business development officer at Envirotainer, air cargo capacity dropped by approximately 50 percent almost overnight.
“From our perspective, roughly half of the containers fly with dedicated air cargo airplanes and the other half flies with the normal passenger traffic. And that dropped almost completely. So, half of air cargo capacity went away,” he says, noting Envirotainer operates a fleet of 7,500 ULD containers.
“Since air cargo capacity was tight, it was more difficult for our customers – but also for ourselves – to reposition containers,” Linnér says. “So instead of leasing out containers and getting them back at the same station, our customers demanded to basically drop them off at the destination instead. That increased a lot the number of one-ways.”
That trend has driven the need for growth of Envirotainer’s ULD fleet, Linnér explains, so the company expanded its active container fleet by over 30 percent last year and is planning to do the same this year.
According to Andreas Seitz, managing director of DoKaSch Temperature Solutions, congestion at seaports threw international supply chains into severe imbalance, furthering cargo capacity issues.
“The rapid increase in demand for air freight to compensate this missing ground-bound capacities not only made air cargo capacities less available, but also more difficult to overwatch,” Seitz says.
During the second half of the pandemic, the air cargo industry was tasked with distributing vaccines for COVID-19, globally.
“Pharma was continuously shipped during the pandemic. But when the vaccines started to ship, we saw an uptick. That accelerated the growth. We shipped well over a billion doses of COVID vaccines in our containers,” Linnér says.
At DoKaSch Temperature Solutions, officials saw similar demands for specialized equipment for temperature-sensitive freight and high risk/high value goods.
“The corona crisis has clearly increased the demand for these highly specialized containers. One reason for the growing demand were the transportation of vaccines,” says Seitz.
Since restrictions have begun to ease, Linnér says Envirotainer has seen an accelerated growth of shipments of pharmaceuticals.
“We believe that the normal pharmaceutical shipments were suppressed during the pandemic, both due to the restricted capacity but also due to the need to ship vaccines, which were even more prioritized,” he says.
“The increasing internationalization of the pharmaceutical industry also continues to drive strong demand for the transport of temperature-sensitive air cargo such as pharmaceuticals and biotech supplies,” Seitz adds.
Coming out of the pandemic, officials at Unilode see passenger loads returning. As a result, the ULD mix is rebalancing to pre-pandemic levels.
“In those markets where we’re seeing the passengers return, we’re obviously starting to put many more containers back into operation,” Marino says, noting a prime example is airlines in China increasing flight schedules as restrictions ease. “We’re now starting to introduce a lot more containers back into operation than before because passengers are starting to fly.
“Our expectation is that the container traffic will become busier because a lot of airlines still have some way to go before they get to pre-pandemic levels,” he continues. “As airlines start to increase schedules, we expect the container traffic to get back to pre-pandemic levels in 2024.”
What’s more, Unilode officials also hope cargo volumes will remain strong.
“We know that yield remains strong compared to pre-pandemic levels, but it has come off its peak somewhat,” Marino says. “I hope that cargo volumes that have softened will not decrease further and that we see a robustness in cargo volumes moving forward.”
ULD Technology
To meet the needs of cargo carriers, new technology is being incorporated into ULDs and containers.
For example to assist with temperature-sensitive goods like pharmaceuticals, DoKaSch Temperature Solution’s Opticooler utilizes compressors and heat exchangers for temperature regulation. The Opticooler’s temperature control system allows the unit to autonomously regulate temperature to avoid deviations.
“In the area of temperature-controlled containers, it is primarily the pharmaceutical manufacturers who specify the requirements for the containers so that the valuable goods such as medicines and vaccines can be transported safely and reliably to their destination,” says Seitz. “For this reason, we are always in close contact with the industry in order to constantly optimize our Opticooler to meet the requirements.”
Linnér notes Envirotainer has invested heavily in ULD technology to ensure containers meet the needs of the pharmaceutical industry, among others.
“We’ve invested a lot in terms of increasing the quality of the containers. In 2021 and last year, we launched two ULD sizes with our latest technology,” he says.
Envirotainer officials have made significant investments in three key areas. These include temperature control, live monitoring and battery technology.
From a technology standpoint, Unilode has placed an emphasis on digitalizing its fleet of ULDs.
“Our intention is to get our fleet fully digitized. We’re at about 80-85 percent of the way there. Our intent by the middle of the year is to get to 90 percent tagged ULDs,” Marino notes.
“Our ULDs have got tags in them. And those tags enable us to track the movement of a ULD,” he adds. “We are also able to get sensory data such as temperature, shock, light and humidity. We’re able to record these sensory measures. So, if you are shipping perishable goods that require refrigeration, or if you are requiring shock-sensitive machine parts, or whatever it might be, what we’ve created with our service offering is the ability to monitor and ensure the cargo is transferred in the right manner and conditions.”
Envirotainer offers an internet of things (IoT) component to its ULD fleet as well. Its live monitoring solution uses a module that fits into the container, which can send data through either a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
“This enables us to locate the container anywhere, and also to get the temperature data – basically, all of the data from the container any time that it’s not in the air,” Linnér says. “This is very valuable to our customers and the services we can build around this data.”
Linnér points out the key challenge with live monitoring is ensuring the transmission of data is turned off while the container is in flight to avoid interfering with aircraft systems.
“The industry has been, due to safety reasons, very cautious about what type of technologies to allow,” he says.
The battery systems used to power advanced containers is a key consideration as well.
“When it comes to our containers and how they maintain temperature control, we have worked a lot in order to make them more efficient. That means we run the temperature control system more efficiently and reduce the consumption of energy,” Linnér says. “We have also worked a lot on making the design more efficient to put in more batteries without increasing the total weight of the solution.”
Minimizing the weight of the battery and therefore the total weight of the container helps airlines reduce aircraft fuel consumption. Battery charging conveniences are also being engineered into ULDs.
“To bridge very long, unforeseen downtimes, it only takes a simple socket to charge the Opticooler,” Seitz points out.
ULD Maintenance
“Unfortunately, because of the harsh conditions in which ULDs operate, containers and pallets do get damaged fairly regularly,” Marino says.
Because a ULD is regarded as an aircraft part, any repair work that is done to a ULD fits under the Part 145 certification process.
“All repairs need to be carried out to a certain standard and certified. As an example, if a ULD requires a new part, these parts have part numbers, and we need to keep a record of which part numbers come off and which part number goes on,” he says.
“Doing work on ULDs is a very skilled, and detailed piece of work.”
Unilode operates 48 MRO facilities across the globe. Marino notes the staff that Unilode recruits are trained, certified and a valuable asset to the business.
“From a technology perspective, most of our readers and tags are installed by our MRO operators. So the technology and the deployment of that technology is done by our MRO team. They will install the tags into our assets. They will also install readers into various cargo warehouses that are on-airport as well as off-airport locations.
According to Seitz, DoKaSch’s Opticooler requires specific maintenance.
“In addition to closely timed maintenance rotations, every Opticooler is checked very thoroughly after every use without exception to ensure an extremely high level of safety for all transports, as the Opticooler most often transports lifesaving, temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals or high valuable goods,” he says.
As with all ULDs, Linnér points out ensuring a unit’s airworthiness is a must.
“We have very strict processes and protocols to ensure that. We inspect all of our containers after and before every trip and officially release them as airworthy before the trip,” he says.
“As compared to a standard ULD, since our ULDs are specifically for the pharma industry, they’re a bit more specialized. We have electronic components, we have data measuring, etc. One positive aspect of this is we gather a lot of data,” he continues. “When it comes to maintenance, we have started working with predictive analytics. We collect, all the time, all the data from all of our containers. Based on that massive pile of data, we can identify individual containers that start behaving a little bit different compared to what we define the parameters of normal behavior.”
ULD Trends
The ULD market is continuing to evolve, adapting to the needs of cargo carriers.
For example, at DoKaSch, officials note an overall trend toward online tracking systems to keep shippers informed of the real-time location and temperature of containers.
“This makes it easier to overwatch supply chains but it is not essential for the safety of the temperature-controlled goods in the Opticooler. Due to its active climate control systems and resilient power supply, the Opticooler is already able to maintain an extremely high level of safety against temperature deviations at all times,” Seitz says.
Additionally, Seitz points to the Opticooler’s efficient utilization of space.
“In comparison to passive solutions, the freight space available in the aircraft is used more efficiently with the Opticooler. Instead of two to four Euro pallets, five Euro pallets can be transported on one air cargo pallet position with the Opticooler, which is an increase of 25 percent,” he says.
Sustainability is also factoring into cargo carrier’s approach.
“In terms of how you can make that ULD a more valuable asset is the weight and the type of materials that have been used,” Marino says. “We support aluminum ULDs mainly due to the durability and strength of aluminum, as well as the sustainability benefits as aluminum can be recycled.”
Depending a customer’s requirements, the sustainability element is going to be a huge factor moving forward, Marino points out. He notes Unilode’s pooling concept can help with sustainability efforts while keeping costs down.
“We’ve been able to demonstrate to many customers that we can reduce their ULD requirements from between 15-40 percent simply by using our pooled concept,” he says. “We think the benefit in the future for airlines is twofold. From a cost perspective, they only pay for what they use, rather than having to buy more ULDs than they need. The second one is the environmental benefits – the sustainability. By getting better at utilization, you need less equipment.
“Our customers don’t have to worry about dispositioning as we look after the movement of empty ULDs.”
Cost efficiency is another priority Envirotainer has identified with its customers.
“We introduced a new-for-the-pharma-industry ULD size: the RLP. That container can transport two US pallets or three Euro pallets,” Linnér says, adding the RLP complements the company’s existing larger RAP solution and the one-pallet RKM solution. “The RAP remains the most cost-effective solution, but we lacked something in between there to drive efficiency for the mid-sized shipments.”
According to Linnér, the industry was able to achieve more efficient operations by working through the conditions posed by the pandemic and the scarce capacity.
“I think those efficiencies and how the industry learned to work with that will not disappear,” he says.
