ULDs – unit load devices – were on the agenda at the Air Cargo Handling Conference in Bangkok September 1-3. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that ULDs were such a popular topic, says Glyn Hughes. IATA’s global head for cargo, considering that the annual damage they cause and the cost it represents for the industry is some US$300 million.

“The vast majority of that damage is caused by not handling in a proper way,” Hughes told Asia Cargo News. ULDs should never be put on a forklift truck or dragged along, but they are, just as they should always be on roller dollies but sometimes aren’t, he said, describing ULDs as both “critical” and “a very big issue for the industry.”

What was even more surprising is the places cited for being ULD-unfriendly. The biggest offenders for causing damage, it appears, are not the emerging markets or even frontier markets where the lack of a sophisticated aviation market might lead to poor usage.

Instead, North America was openly acknowledged to be “the worst culprit” with a “shovel-it-in” approach leading to the use of wrong and incompatible equipment, said David Ambridge, general manager-cargo for Bangkok Flight Services. (ULDs are “better handled in Africa than in America” was one of the more pithy comments in the session.)

“For me, the whole process of ULDs going off-airport needs to be much more tightly controlled, as the people handling those ULDs off-airport are generally not trained, not qualified, and not certified to handle them,” Ambridge told Asia Cargo News.

“All of the supply chain needs to refamiliarize themselves with the fact that the ULD is an aircraft component,” said IATA’s Hughes. “Those who are touching it need to be adequately trained.”

By Michael Mackey

Southeast Asia Correspondent | Bangkok