A New Concept Of Collapsible Air Cargo Container

To ensure safe and secure transport of air cargo to its destination, specifically designed containers/pallets are used. These Unit Load Devices (ULD) are so made that they be light weight and with certain specifications to fit in the aircrafts cargo. A need has always been felt for some improvement and innovation in these ULD’s so as to reduce costs in handling, storage and transport. This is where the new concept comes in place, developed by Avdome Holdings and Dookang Engineering in Seoul.

The salient feature of these ULD’s developed by Avdome Holdings and Dookang Engineering is that it is COLLAPSIBLE. It is also very light weight compared to the traditional ULD’s. Not only this, it comes with an electronic data recorder.

A traditional ULD is like a closed container with certain specifications, made of aluminum or a combination of aluminum and Lexan, with the base of aluminum and walls of Lexan. The Dookang’s ULD is not rigid. It can be collapsed for storage. It is a Full Knock down Kit (FKD) with honeycomb structured fiberglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP). It adds considerable strength by distributing weight evenly of variable sized heavy shipments. To meet customer’s requirements the ULD floor covering can be accomplished in either of the two methods. First, to cover the entire floor with single panel that will provide greatest strength and meet maximum requirement. Secondly, two panels can be cut to fit the floor design allowing easy handling, shipping and storage. Each panel has a permanent color chosen by the customer for identification and material control. Each panel is permanently marked with customer’s identification code to meet FAA guidelines. This new concept will help in solving some of the problems faced by the industry today.

    

                                                                                            

Imbalance happens when there are too many ULD’s at one airport and less in another. For e.g. Korea to USA routes, the cargo leaving from Korea is five times less than the incoming from USA. In order to rectify this imbalance empty ULD’s have to be shipped back to the other airport impending the exchequer more so if an entire aircraft is filled with these empty ULD’s. Avdome-Dookang FKD concept ULD can be assembled and dissembled in minutes, thus the empty ULD’s can be shipped back to USA taking less space in the cargo deck. As an estimate the new concept ULD’s will have a return ratio of 14:1 to 20:1 when fully collapsed. That means ranging from 14 to 20 collapsed ULD’s can be stacked in place of one traditional fully erect non-collapsible ULD. Thus it not only helps in minimizing the imbalance but also helps with storage of additional ULD’s for use during the peak season. Avdome and Dookang’s ULD new concept meets all measures required by FAA.

 It is another major problem the industry is facing. FAA requires that the ULD’s to be airworthy meet the required minimum performance standards. In case there is any slight damage or tear it makes the container un- airworthy. Damage to these ULD’s despite following guidelines is not infrequent. Many cargo companies spend millions of Dollars each year to repair and transport of these un-airworthy containers. According to an estimate repair and maintenance and transport of these ULD’s costs the industry approx. USD220 million per year. Airlines are forced to create large inventory buffers due to the high incidence of damage to the ULD’s. The IATA lays down clear guidelines for handling of the ULD’s to reduce the damages and loss of revenue to aircrafts and cargo companies. But despite all the guidelines laid down the main cause of this high rate of Repair and maintenance is improper handling of ULD’s, poor control of operations and lack of effective track and trace according to the IATA. To one estimate there are around 800,000 ULD’s across the globe and the industry’s loss ratio averages 15-20%. With the new concept of collapsible FRP full knock down ULD of Avdome-Dookang the damaged portion is easily replaced locally in very less time thus reducing the maintenance costs. These ULD’s are nearly maintenance free and will serve for years before being rendered unserviceable. 

 As the peak season arrives from October through December the demand for ULD’s increases, the traditional ULD’s take up a lot of space but these Avdome-Dookang FKD ULD’s will help in storage of additional ULDs for use during peak season.

The Avdome-Dookang container will weigh 25% less than a traditional container. Less weight means fuel saving by the aircraft. Around 4% additional kilos of jet fuel is burnt with every additional Kg of payload. For example, an airline operating an aircraft that fly 3000 hours per year is saving 120 kg of fuel a year per each kilo gram of cargo. Each aircraft is carrying 20 containers and each container weighs around 25 kg less by weight, it will be 20 kg per hour fuel saving. Hence an aircraft flying 3000 hours per year will save 60,000 kg of fuel per year! This means that the aircraft carrying cargo by these new concepts ULD’s will save on fuel, thus saving revenue.

To summarize, Avdome-Dookang’s new concept has the following salient points...

·         New light weight material that weighs 25% less than the traditional container. This will increase revenue by saving on fuel or by carrying additional cargo. So the airlines have all the reason to choose these containers instead of traditional ones.

·         Aluminum composite panel and honeycombed structured Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) with collapsible quality. It is available in all size and types. Frozen, cooling and heating containers are also available.

·         These are easily assembled and dissembled saving on man-hours, increasing storage capacity for additional LDUs during peak time. ULD imbalance is also reduced as almost 20 ULDs can be transferred in place of one traditional ULD.

·         Due to reduced repair and maintenance as these are full knock down (FKD) much revenue is saved by the airlines or Air Cargo. The damaged part or portion is easily replaced locally .These will last for a long time thus reducing the cost of replacing frequently.

      It is equipped with Electronic Data Box that records destination, item description, weight and volume of packages, baggage, mail etc. that significantly saves time required to load an aircraft and ensures that space is fully utilized. It features RFID Reader/writer, a GPRS modem, store package information, automatic calculation of total weight of container, records inside temperature, and location by GPS sensor, altitude, aircraft speed, smoke detector and high temperature sensor etc. In case of a crash a recorder acts as Black box and has an optional battery pack.

Despite stabilizing of fuel prices and realization of need to replace the existing traditional containers, there is a hitch in arranging the finance for replacing the traditional containers. The question remains as to how to finance the change? Avdome-Dookang is working with a global bank for replacing the traditional containers with their new concept containers. It’s a leasing program and airlines do not need to invest in replacement. They will gain the immediate benefit on fuel saving and can pay the cost of container from revenue saved.

With Avdome-Dookang in the ULD scenario with their new concept containers and leasing program, the airlines and air cargo companies and all involved in this industry of managing cargo and ULD’s need not worry as they will surely revolutionize the industry by reducing fuel costs, increasing storage capacity and reducing imbalance .