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The public thinks of large jets as passenger carriers, but many of them act as trucks with wings—and air freight relies on road haulage to bridge the gap between airport and customers. Tim Maughan looks at this high-profile but demanding sector of the industry.
Flight CLX791 emerges from the clouds above Prestwick International Airport. The plane is some distance off; but there is no mistaking her distinctive fuselage: she is a Boeing 747 400 Freighter, the workhorse of intercontinental air freight. Seconds later she is thundering down the runway, her four Rolls Royce engines screaming as they go into reverse thrust.
CM stands on the tarmac with John and Jim Dumabie and Gordon Benson, the men behind Ayrshire-based DJ Dumabie; air cargo makes up 40% of the firm's business. Minutes later the Cargolux jet swings on to the apron. When you are standing at ground level the huge size of a 747 becomes clear.
CLX791 is 70.6m long, with a 64.4rr wingspan. The Dumabie Scania tractor and curtainsider, which look impressive enough on the road, look like miniatures next to the aeroplane. CLX791 taxis towards us and comes to a standstill. The jet cuts a sleek figure on the tarmac, but seconds later the entire nose lifts up because, just like the Scania, this is a cargo carrier. She has just flown in from Alaska. The sheer presence of the jet and her impressive cargo capacity (see box) bring home the complexity of modern global logistics.
This Jumbo cruises at 910km/h at 35,000ft. Her specifications and performance are truly impressive—but once CLX791 is back on the ground her load has to be moved on by truck.
Dumabie operates 20 tractive units, mainly Scanias, from two depots; Maybole, Ayrshire, and Newbury Berks. Air freight manager Gordon Benson says: "Here at Prestwick we get six or seven Jumbo jets on a Saturday; on other days we get two. The aeroplanes generally come from Houston, Seattle, New York and Taipai. We have contracts with airlines such as Cargolux, Polar Air Cargo and Air France, which are renewed annually" Dumabie works directly for the airlines, although, of course, consignments belong to the customers. "Various customers have goods on any one aeroplane," Benson explains. "Agents deal with these, although the airlines tell us how many pallets there are to be transported."
Curtainsiders
All air cargo pallets measure 2.4x3:17m, and trailers operated by air cargo hauliers tend to be taller than the typical 4m: Dumabie's curtainsiders are a lofty 4.6m.
"Sometimes three of our trucks are assigned to one 747," says Benson. One curtainsider can take four pallets, "so 10 artics are needed to pick up a full Jumbo load of 39 pallets".
Dumabie operates 17 artics from Maybole, so relieving a fully laden 747 of its cargo does not pose a problem. Muthdrop work is common. On the day we visit Prestwick the Dumabie truck is bound for Manchester and Birmingham. Loads are characterised by volume, not weight, so Dumabie's HGVs are plated at 38 tonnes.
Consignments are not transferred directly from aircraft to truck; this is done in Prestwick's 10,350m2 Freight Centre. Unlike freight entering Britain by sea every pallet is checked. "All the pallets have to be Customs cleared," Benson reports. 'Sometimes it can take eight hours to unload a Jumbo and get all the pallets through Customs."
Many hauliers would be alarmed at such lengthy transfer times, but Benson knows well in advance where a pallet is located in the Jumbo and how long it will take before it is ready to be loaded on to one of Dumabie's artics, so in practice delays are minimal.
Generally it is a smooth operation, but occasionally factors thousands of miles away can cause problems. Benson says: "There are times when the freight dc not turn up at all because of overbook at the loading point, plus there may technical difficulties with the aeropla which can cause delays."
However, he receives comb updates on flight progress. On the day visited Prestwick, CLX791 touched do three hours late; but Benson had be informed that it was behind schedi which meant his vehicle was freed up work elsewhere.
Air cargo has a prestigious ring aly it, and the rules are certainly strict. Jc Dumabie says: "if one of our driv( turned up at Prestwick or Heathr Airport without his security badge handling operators would not tolerate He would not be let in the compound.
"You also have to bear in mind ins' ance for very expensive goods in tan id overheads such as this are not ways reflected in rates," he warns.
Prestwick International Airport 'oudty describes itself as the "freight Al of Scotland', This is true: it is the only ;offish airport with a runway capable of iking the largest cargo aeroplanes. In )00 Prestwick handled 53,000 tonnes of irgo, which equates to a lot of truck iovements. The figures are impressive, it if you want to see truly awesome air eight statistics you have to head south to England...so we do just that.
Yistinction
eathrow Airport has the distinction of sing the busiest international airport in in world, and the world's second isiest cargo airport. Last year it haned 1.38 million tonnes of cargo.
No wonder there are dozens of air
0 cargo hauliers based around Heathrow. One of these is Towel! Transport Services, based in Feltham. The company was established in 1972 by fatherand-son team Reg and Raymond Towell. Today it's run by Ray and his son Darren. They operate vehicles right across the board, at 7.5, 17, 28, 38 and 44 tonnes. "We do run box vans, but it is mainly curtainsiders," reports Darren Towell, as a Heathrow-bound airliner roars overhead. 'Everything now [in air cargo l is volume rather than weight," he adds. The 44-tonners are assigned to general haulage work.
Logistics
Most of Towell's business is for global logistics firms such as Geologistics and Europa, although the firm also works directly for airlines. Towell trucks have been hauling loads for Geologistics for nine years, and consignments are out of the ordinary. "Some 30% of our work is carrying aircraft engines," says Towell.