Pallet and ULD supply tighten on trans-Pacific lanes

[caption id="attachment_94266" align="alignright" width="298"] An LD3 container staged for lower-deck loading. Photo/Jettainer[/caption] The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken up the types of aircraft utilized to transport trans-Pacific cargo flows across the Pacific, and in doing so has strained the stockpiles of pallets and ULDs on which shipments move. The collapse of scheduled long-haul passenger flights and networks in the spring of 2020 that still persists today has made the process of balancing ULDs and pallets increasingly tricky. With less capacity available in the bellies of passenger flights, aircraft equipment — and the routes on which they operate — have shifted to compensate. All-cargo carriers, which previously operated scheduled services, have turned to charter flights, sometimes to cities they did not previously serve. Combination carriers have also stepped up cargo operations with cargo-only flights utilizing passenger aircraft. “Due to short-notice requests and volatile flight schedules, demand is more difficult to calculate and we have to react faster and more flexibly overall,” said Frank Muhlenkamp, director operations at Jettainer, a Lufthansa Cargo affiliate that manages ULDs. As a result, palletized cargo traffic saw a significant increase compared to ULDs, which are predominantly used on passenger flights. “Pallets, in particular, are needed due to increased cargo flights and ad-hoc charters, and the full load of cargo ULDs in bellies of the few operating passenger flights," said Muhlenkamp. COVID-related delays and limited staff capacity have also made it difficult to recover ULDs. “Therefore, we had to be extremely vigilant to avoid any shortages on the main routes between Asia and the Americas and vice versa.” To avoid container shortages, Jettainer has pushed for the immediate reuse of containers, rather than storing them at the destination ahead of repositioning. “Especially on routes of charter flights, which normally only offer limited services, it is of advantage to return the ULDs immediately,” Muhlenkamp said. Improved visibility across the global ULD fleet is also making it easier to identify airports where ULD balancing is required. Jettainer manages Skypool, an online platform that facilitates ULD balancing by bringing airlines together to identify repositioning needs and avoid empty flights. Operators that have longstanding arrangements with their ULD suppliers have seen fewer issues compared to ad-hoc charter operators serving new markets. AirBridgeCargo continues to receive "ULD stock every month," according to a spokesperson for the airline. So far there have been "no issues" with ULD supply. ULD supplier Unilode manages 10,000 containers for the Russia-based all-cargo carrier in a deal that was extended into 2023 . ACL Airshop, a U.S.-headquartered company that manufactures and manages ULDs, told Air Cargo World it had not experienced a shortage of ULDs in Asia. “The normal flow at this time of year is from East to West. We started preparing for this period during summer. When peak hits, we have sufficient stock to support our customers,” said Mark Edwards, Managing Director of ACL Airshop Asia/Pacific. “It is in Asia where we have grown most aggressively in the past five years, expanding from four operational sites to now seventeen, with more planned,” he said. In regions where pallet-to-ULD usage was relatively balanced, the declining role of passenger aircraft has further shifted reliance on pallets. “Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, which had a balanced distribution of pallets and containers before the pandemic,” have seen significant changes. “Now the ULD distribution is 70% to 80% pallets and only 20% to 30% containers,” Muhlenkamp said. There have been a few regions where the opposite was true, and container use has increased, notably in Africa and Central America, according to Jettainer. Responding to the container shortage for both sea and air modes, Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao launched a container booking service in January. The program encompasses 200 air and seaports and confirms bookings in as little as two days at costs that are “30% to 40% lower than the average market rate,” according to a statement from Cainiao. Cainiao is also trying to sweeten the deal for shippers by guaranteeing departures. Shipments that miss a scheduled departure because of Cainiao or one of its partners are entitled to a 10% refund for air cargo shipments, and the higher of either $155 or 20% of the shipping fee for international sea freight bookings. “By working closely with airlines and cargo companies, we aim to safeguard the entire cross-border line haul network and instill greater stability into sea and air freight shipping,” said James Zhao, general manager of Cainiao Global Supply Chain.

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