Carbon Fiber Air Cargo Containers

All Nippon Airways announced the introduction of an all carbon fiber air cargo container, also known as a ULD (Unit Load Device). These are the containers always seen on the side on the runway, almost always made of aluminum, and all beat up. These aluminum containers are heavy, and extra weight wastes fuel. But, just how much fuel would these containers save?

Lets take a look at how much fuel and money could be saved by switching over to a carbon fiber air cargo container. According to gizmowhiz, here are the numbers:

Current container weight: 154 lbs

Carbon fiber air cargo container: 90.4 lbs

Aluminum container cost: $1,632

Carbon fiber container cost: $2,215

Premium per container: $583

Containers on a Boeing 777-300: 44

Total weight saved per flight: 2,798 lbs

Fuel saved one-way Japan to California: 516 liters

So, that was the information provided by the article. The following are some more calculations to try and figure out how much money is saved by each container on each flight:

Fuel saved per container per flight (44 on a flight): 11.72 liters

Price of jet fuel (as of 9/10/10): $.56 per liter
Source: IATA

Money saved per flight: $288.96

Money saved per container per flight: $6.56

With each container costing a $583 premium, this means it would take a container 89 flights for the premium to pay off, and 338 flights for carbon fiber container to totally pay for itself.

If a plane were to make 1 flight a day, these containers would pay for themselves in less then a year. This should be a no-brainier to airlines. If the entire airframe construction is switching from aluminum to composites, like in the new 787 Dreamliner, why would they not switch the air cargo containers to composites as well.

I have a feeling the aluminum air cargo container is a dying breed.