UNIT Load Devices (ULDs) is a US$357 million market expected to grow 4.7 per cent annually to $495 million by 2026, according to a MarketWatch, reports Mumbai's Stat trade Times.
But since the Covid crisis, ULD shortages have affected the cargo flow. ULD stock shortages have always been an industry problem due to the trade imbalance between the east and the west, but Covid made things worse.
Add to that, the exponential growth of ecommerce which is also mostly only one way, plus trade wars and seasonal passenger traffic.
'There will always be inefficiencies, so we maintain our speed of responsiveness and deploy inventory to help clients in surge periods, said Steve Townes, president and CEO of South Carolina's ACL Airshop Shortages.
Andreas Seitz, managing director of Frankfurt's DoKaSch Temperature Solutions, sees imbalances and logistics of ULDs as 'pseudo-demand', as the loading equipment was available, but just wasn't where it was needed.
'Due to the increased demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for air cargo ULDs was also high. As a result of the disrupted flight schedules, the distribution of ULDs in the airlines' networks was more inefficient than before the pandemic,' he said.
The shortage of ULDs has highlighted the importance of efficient and forward-looking management and a global network, according to Frank Muehlenkamp, director of global operations at Frankfurt's Jettainer, which has a global network of 100,000 ULDs.
'Especially in this year's summer peak season and in conjunction with staff shortages at many airports, this was a very demanding task,' he said.
Zhi Yong Liao, senior manager, cargo safety and ULDs, International Air Transport Association (IATA) also identifies the imbalance as the main pain point in the global ULD asset management right now.
Mr Liao is also responsible for the upcoming IATA World Cargo Symposium's spotlight session on ULDs under the Safety & Security stream, happening on September 27 to 29 in London.
He informed The Stat Trade Times that some airports believe that airlines are using more space for ULDs than they need and reported that these airports are considering charging airlines for the ULD storage.
'We were told that airports have started to consider a fine as the result of the inventory imbalance,' he said.
To improve the situation, he put forth two recommendations: improve the ULD control across the air cargo supply chain and improve the accuracy of ULD inventory forecasting.
SeaNews Turkey
But since the Covid crisis, ULD shortages have affected the cargo flow. ULD stock shortages have always been an industry problem due to the trade imbalance between the east and the west, but Covid made things worse.
Add to that, the exponential growth of ecommerce which is also mostly only one way, plus trade wars and seasonal passenger traffic.
'There will always be inefficiencies, so we maintain our speed of responsiveness and deploy inventory to help clients in surge periods, said Steve Townes, president and CEO of South Carolina's ACL Airshop Shortages.
Andreas Seitz, managing director of Frankfurt's DoKaSch Temperature Solutions, sees imbalances and logistics of ULDs as 'pseudo-demand', as the loading equipment was available, but just wasn't where it was needed.
'Due to the increased demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for air cargo ULDs was also high. As a result of the disrupted flight schedules, the distribution of ULDs in the airlines' networks was more inefficient than before the pandemic,' he said.
The shortage of ULDs has highlighted the importance of efficient and forward-looking management and a global network, according to Frank Muehlenkamp, director of global operations at Frankfurt's Jettainer, which has a global network of 100,000 ULDs.
'Especially in this year's summer peak season and in conjunction with staff shortages at many airports, this was a very demanding task,' he said.
Zhi Yong Liao, senior manager, cargo safety and ULDs, International Air Transport Association (IATA) also identifies the imbalance as the main pain point in the global ULD asset management right now.
Mr Liao is also responsible for the upcoming IATA World Cargo Symposium's spotlight session on ULDs under the Safety & Security stream, happening on September 27 to 29 in London.
He informed The Stat Trade Times that some airports believe that airlines are using more space for ULDs than they need and reported that these airports are considering charging airlines for the ULD storage.
'We were told that airports have started to consider a fine as the result of the inventory imbalance,' he said.
To improve the situation, he put forth two recommendations: improve the ULD control across the air cargo supply chain and improve the accuracy of ULD inventory forecasting.
SeaNews Turkey
