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Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Lufthansa Cargo and Jettainer have embarked on a pilot scheme to test the impact of lightweight containers on the carrier’s environmental performance and transport costs. The trial of the new containers will provide information about their weight advantages and shed light on the behaviour of containers made of composite materials compared with their conventional aluminium counterparts. The carrier will use a total of 1,000 containers from four manufacturers for the study.
“International aviation has used conventional aluminium containers for the transport of cargo and baggage for many decades. With the introduction of new lightweight containers made of composite materials, the global airline industry can reckon to deliver annual fuel savings in the upper double-digit million range,” said Jettainer’s managing director, Alexander Plümacher. He anticipates that the trial will provide forward-looking information on the potential for tangible savings in fuel costs and CO2 emissions.
A conventional LD-3 airfreight container made of aluminium weighs about 80 kg. The new containers made of composite materials are about 15 per cent lighter. The tests also aim to show whether the new containers need fewer repairs and whether the reduction in idle time due to repairs will affect the overall quantities of containers needed.
The pilot scheme will run until autumn 2009.
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