We’re winners!! Freightweek’s readership, alongside the air cargo community, have voted AEROTUF to have the Best Sustainable Cargo Technology for 2022. Why, I hear you ask? Well, in a word… ‘composites’.  Generally speaking, a composite is a material made from two or more different materials that, when combined, are stronger than those individual materials by themselves.

So now we’re all introduced, let’s take a closer look at our groundbreaking ULD range, the AeroTHERM and how a specific adaptation to thermal insulation can have a huge impact on the sustainability of an everyday logistical tool. 

The AeroTHERM is a Performance Driven ULD container which is used to protect perishable goods from extreme temperature changes during transport. It achieves this without the need for any additional single-use or reusable insulation, whilst also minimizing or eradicating additional cooling materials all together. Essentially, the walls of the AeroTHERM are made from composite materials which act as an excellent integral insulator, creating a protective shield around perishables, which then thermally protects its goods from point to point.

One tangible benefit of this innovative technology is the significant reduction in the use of thermal blankets. A recent case study includes working alongside an airline and their chosen 3PL’s to implement a modest 50 units of the AeroTHERM AKE containers as part of a wider perishable strategy, which can now deliver staggering sustainability enhancements and tangible cost savings.

For example;

• If the 3PL or airline uses the AeroTHERM instead of utilising single-use reflective thermal blankets in a standard AKE, they would prevent around 39,500kgs of single-use blankets from going to landfill each year. Not only that, they will save on processing and management costs with not having to procure, store, prepare, disassemble and dispose of these throw-away items.
• If the 3PL or airline uses the AeroTHERM instead of their chosen, heavier duty, multi-use, reusable thermal blankets, they would prevent the need to ship a total of approximately 58,000kg of weight in these heavier duty materials back to their point of origin to be cleaned, inspected and ready for reuse. Our solution removes the headache of storing, packing and returning these multi-use blankets in an already constrained airfreight market.

If you would like to know more about how AEROTUF’s use of composite materials in ULDs can help boost your operations sustainability, as well as being a great addition to a wider perishable strategy, please do get in touch.