Packed to the max: Optimizing the capabilities of new freighters

Size isn’t everything in the airfreight market – space is.

Freighters are the backbone of air cargo, creating networks and routes independent of passenger travel, providing flexibility for specialty and oversized cargo, and establishing key trade lanes.

The freighter aircraft market has boomed in the past two years as the aircraft created reliability amid COVID-19 restrictions, enabling essential cargo and other commodities to keep moving. Converted passenger aircraft further helped .

Source: Boeing and Airbus order logs from 2018-2022

With the air cargo market seeing exponential growth in key corridors, particularly e-commerce , the optimization of freighter capabilities is key as the market continues to face capacity shortages and other supply-chain disruptions. In turn, new freighters like Boeing’s 777-8 and Airbus’s 350 — with their increased capacity and fuel efficiency — are driving record demand for both manufacturers.

Airfreight stakeholders, including manufacturers, carriers, forwarders and unit load device (ULD) managers explain the connection in freighter development and capacity management. Boeing freighters gain traction Boeing’s latest freighter, the 777-8F, has seen growing demand among carriers, with five known carriers placing orders to date.

The 777-8F boasts a maximum revenue payload of 112.3 tonnes and a range of 4,410 nautical miles, according to Boeing. The aircraft measures 70.9 meters in length and has a total cargo volume of roughly 766 cubic meters, 17% more than the 777F. The 777-8F can also use the same pallets and containers as the 777F.

The aircraft’s updates also include a high-span carbon-fiber composite wing, all-new engines and a natural laminar flow nacelle, Brian Hermesmeyer, project engineer at Boeing, told Air Cargo World .

“Together, these advancements will help the 777-8F deliver nearly identical payload and an incredible 30% improvement in fuel use and emissions per tonne, and a 50% improvement in noise over the airplanes it will replace, such as the 747-400F,” Hermesmeyer said.

Boeing incorporated customer feedback to add features like digital loading tools and navigation enhancements to increase the aircraft’s efficiency, according to Air Cargo World ’s sister publication Cargo Facts .

Boeing logged a record 204 freighter orders in 2021 and expects air cargo traffic to grow annually by 4.1%, Hermesmeyer noted.

“Key drivers include robust marker growth in East Asia, acceleration of e-commerce worldwide and the evolution of supply chains in the next 20 years,” he added.

As the East Asian market and e-commerce demand grow, Boeing expects carriers in the region to build out their express networks with new freighters. The company forecasts that by 2041, Southeast Asia will receive 35 freighter deliveries while South Asia and China will receive five and 205 freighters, respectively, according to the manufacturer’s recent Commercial Market Outlook (CMO) 2022-2041 .

In total, carriers will need 2,795 additional freighters over the next 20 years, the majority of which will be converted freighters, Boeing forecasts. Carriers embrace 777-8Fs Several carriers have ordered the new aircraft, bringing the known total 777-8F orderbook to 43, according to Cargo Facts. In January, Qatar Airways became the first known carrier to commit to the aircraft , with a firm order for 34 and options for 16 more for delivery starting in 2027.

Lufthansa ordered seven of the aircraft in May, with deliveries beginning in 2027, and made plans to purchase three additional 777Fs to satisfy high market demand. Ethiopian Airlines signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Boeing in May for five 777-8Fs and placed an order for five 777Fs.

Meanwhile, Japan-based All Nippon Airways (ANA) placed a firm order for two 777-8Fs in July. The freighters will add to its current fleet, which includes two factory-built 777Fs, and will likely enter service in 2028.

The carrier is still unsure whether it will use the freighters to replace its existing 767s, which would depend on future market conditions, ANA spokesperson Tomoko Muraishi told Air Cargo World .

“While we have yet to determine specific routes for the 777-8F, we expect to operate [in] large markets in the U.S. and Europe, where high-yield cargo such as oversized products, cargo requiring special handling and bulk cargo can be expected,” Muraishi said.

Cargolux in July became the fifth known carrier to commit to the aircraft, though the exact number of units is yet to be determined. The carrier plans to replace several of its sixteen 747-400Fs with the new aircraft.

Dubai-based Emirates SkyCargo plans to convert a further ten-passenger 777-300ER passenger aircraft into freighters between 2023 and 2026, nearly doubling its 777 fleet to serve increasing demand.

The incoming converted 777-300ER freighters’ payload capabilities will be close to those of the 777F production freighters, and the converted aircraft will be more efficient per tonne of cargo carried than the production freighters. They will also provide greater capacity, Hiran Perera, senior vice president of freighters at Emirates, told Air Cargo World .

“The converted freighters will provide up to 10 additional pallet positions over the Boeing 777F production freighter, allowing for transport of more low-density cargo including e-commerce goods,” Perera said. “They will boost the main-deck cargo capacity that Emirates SkyCargo can deploy on its global routes, with a particular focus on trade lanes where volumetric cargo loads tend to be high." 777Fs remain popular However, other carriers have made plans to purchase 777Fs, including Air Canada , which finalized agreements for two aircraft in June, with expected deliveries in 2024, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Amos Kazzaz said during an Aug. 2 Q2 earnings call.

“We see strong demand [and] growth in the market that we really need the additional capacity that a 777 offers,” Kazzaz said on the call.

Air Canada also took delivery of two new 767Fs during Q2 and expects them to enter service by 2023. The 777F and 767F offer different benefits, he noted.

The 767’s “range is limited, and certainly there’s a big market in Asia that we serve right now through belly space … but we see that as really a growing opportunity,” Kazzaz said. “So, the 777 has really enabled us to round out the network and from a range perspective and lift capability.”

Emirates operates a fleet of eleven 777Fs , becoming the launch customer for the aircraft in 2009. The Gulf carrier’s most recent delivery of a new 777F took place in July.

Emirates is upgrading its fleet’s capacity to meet increasing demand in most global markets. In FY22, the Gulf carrier transported 2.1 million tonnes of cargo , up roughly 14% year over year, Perera said. During that period, transport of perishables crossed 260,000 tonnes, and both pharma and valuable goods each grew 17%, he noted. Airbus grows its size Airbus, similarly, has developed its own state-of-the-art freighter, the A350F, the company's first freighter . The newest member of the A350 family, the freighter has the newest technologies, aerodynamics and “unrivalled operational flexibility and reliability,” an Airbus spokesperson told Air Cargo World.

Compared with Boeing’s 777F, the A350F has 11% more volume, a 30-tonne lighter take-off weight and 3 tonnes more in payload. Airbus’ aircraft also has 30% better economics and lower operating costs per tonne per trip and 300 nm more range at equivalent payload to the 777, the spokesperson said.

Airbus has seen a staggering demand for its freighters, with 2,400 deliveries inbound and 900 new builds, or around 37%, according to the spokesperson.

The manufacturer has also seen a larger-than-life need in its freighter family, and thus came the Beluga .

At 56 meters long, 17 meters high, a fuselage diameter of 7.72 meters and a main-deck cargo volume of 1,400 meters cubed, the BelugaST has the largest cross section in the business. It can complete trans-Atlantic flights with a payload of 31 tonnes, with maximum nonstop range of 2,152 meters carrying 43.2 tonnes of cargo. It is based on the twin-engine A300-600R and powered by General Electric CF6-80C2 engines, according to the spokesperson.

“The Airbus-operated Belugas have played a key role in keeping the Airbus production and assembly network operating at full capacity,” the spokesperson said.

Airbus began commercial outsized cargo operations with its five BelugaST fleet earlier this year, servicing customers in a variety of industries including engine manufacturing; space, helicopter and machinery manufacturing; oil and gas; military equipment and humanitarian supplies.

The BelugaXL — Airbus' modified A330-200 freighter — will join the BelugaST in the future, the spokesperson said, however no timeline for its rollout was provided. ULDs and new freighters New freighters call for new cargo-loading and packing solutions that airfreight stakeholders must match.

The unit load device (ULD) market is entirely connected to the freighter market, Ross Marino, chief executive at ULD management system Unilode, told Air Cargo World.

“The ULD market and the freighter market are 100% co-dependent,” Marino said.

In recent years, most freighters and aircraft types have remained the same, including the 777F, 747F, 767F and Airbus models, he said. However, Unilode monitors the freighter market closely to know which aircraft types utilize each type of ULD to ensure the company can provide containers that meet their clients’ needs.

“Any new freighter that comes [into] the market, we want to make sure that we're in a position to support that that type of operation,” Marino said. “So we keep a very close eye on the types of pallets and containers that are required.”

ULD manager Jettainer keeps an eye not only on aircraft manufacturers and new aircraft types, but also regional trends for purchasing and leasing freighters so it can better understand future needs and demand, Gert Pfeifer, head of operational excellence supply chain at Jettainer, told Air Cargo World.

“For example, there are countries in Southeast Asia with significant growth, and then there is Europe, North America, Latin America, where the situation is completely different,” Pfeifer said. “So it's important to understand what is happening where in order to offer a suitable product for each market.”

Likewise, aircraft developers monitor the ULD market. Airbus continues to work with customers and other interested stakeholders to assure ULD and pallet developments are taken into consideration with aircraft design, the Airbus spokesperson said.

The greatest change in freighter ULD usage has come from narrowbody conversions and the need to maximize space in these novel freighters, Pfeifer said. Prior to March 2020, ULDs were only used in bellyhold on passenger aircraft but now, conversions bring a new range of opportunities for pallet and ULD use.

“The aircraft itself is very versatile; it doesn’t care what kind of pallets you put in it,” Pfeifer said. “It’s the cargo that determines the ULD type.”

The one challenge with the growing converted freighter market is its utility — carriers and shippers have utilized narrowbodies to ship e-commerce and batteries, creating a unique need for fire-resistant containers .

However, the ULD market has otherwise not seen substantial changes in its device shaping in decades, and Marino anticipates this to be true going forward.

“The actual shapes and designs that have been around for many years remain because they’re designed to maximize the space available within the aircraft holds, so that hasn’t changed a great deal … but the actual products and the use within them have obviously developed over time,” he said.

Even with oversized cargo needs, Pfeifer said he doesn’t foresee much shifting in the ULD market to accommodate large freighters or cargo.

Following the loss of Russian Antonov aircraft in the early days of the Russia-Ukraine War, the airfreight market looked to other solutions for oversized freighter capabilities , but the future of oversized cargo shipping via the Beluga or Boeing’s Dreamlifter remains mostly in the hands of their manufacturers.

The materials of ULDs continue to shift to accommodate for lighter, fuel-saving measures, and manufacturers are juggling the recyclability of aluminum with the lighter density of carbon fiber.

“It does mean the lighter they get, possibly more fragile they are and can be susceptible to damage, but the lighter weight, recyclable materials is the real push from a lot of OEMs,” Marino said.

Flying empty ULDs or near-empty freighters remains common practice, something both Jettainer and Unilode said they hope their businesses can minimize — providing ULDs at airports and offering ULD rentals rather than each carrier owning its own supply — to reduce carbon emissions and lost revenue. To the absolute max While ULD management solutions can ensure ULD slots are accounted for, and e-booking can help streamline slot management , not all ULDs are packed as efficiently as necessary to maximize all available space. In turn, airfreight stakeholders have looked to utilize technology solutions as way to optimize capacity.

Digital booking companies like WebCargo by Freightos and cargo.one have seen higher demand since 2020, creating more visibility in capacity for freight forwarders and other shippers. WebCargo saw a 2,000% increase year over year in 2021 , and more carriers continue to join digital booking platforms each quarter.

But weight is rarely the obstacle to freighter capacity management — it's more often volume, Jettainer’s Pfeifer said.

“Probably one of the biggest complaints that airlines make is that ground handlers, either their own or external ones … don't use all of the space available in the aircraft,” Unilode’s Marino said. “So how do they make sure that that capacity is utilized? And that requires potentially some technology to help.”

That’s where technological solutions like Cargo-Planner help close the gap. The company's load-planning software aims to help airfreight stakeholders maximize loads with fewer ULDs and utilize the entire aircraft, Cargo-Planner Chief Executive Erik Tornblom told Air Cargo World .

“Our tagline is, ‘Ship less air’ for a reason,” Tornblom said. “Our app answers questions like: How much will fit? How many ULDs do I need? Can I fit another cargo on this flight?”

The application creates 3D plans using aircraft models for everything from turboprop planes to freighters in order to help visualize the best way to pack cargo — whether for whole plane or a single ULD.

The company has seen an increase in clients since 2020, with DSV, DHL, Air Canada, DB Schenker and Kerry Logistics all utilizing Cargo-Planner services, and the rise of converted passenger planes as stakeholders look to pack cargo differently.

“I think the cargo optimization process will take a bigger role earlier on in the air cargo lifecycle — even in the forecasting step and before any booking has been done to predict pricing in a more accurate way,” Tornblom said.

As with most digitization projects, Cargo-Planner only works with adoption, he noted, and so the company looked to make the app easy to use and able to incorporate into workflows.

New technology, innovative freighters and the changing ULD market continue to transform the airfreight market. Despite capacity shortages and supply-chain disruptions, stakeholders are looking for new ways to ensure freighters are packed to the max amid the continuing surge in air cargo traffic.

Packed to the max: Optimizing the capabilities of new freighters

New and converted freighter market creates demand for optimization

Lufthansa grows Asia, North America capacity with new 777F, A321F

Regional Pulse: Ireland volumes driven by health care, high-tech shipments

Related Posts

Narrowbody freighter fleet sees flat net growth

A350F order boosts October transactions

People: De Man appointed CEO of Maastricht Aachen

Regional Pulse: Ireland volumes driven by health care, high-tech shipments

Stay informed with our newsletters

Cargo Facts Connect Podcast

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Retrieve your password