Inside an Air Cargo Facility Keeping the Global Supply Chain Running

Table of Contents

Delays in ocean shipping and an overall decrease in international passenger flights on which cargo is moved have driven up the prices to ship freight by air.

A Boeing 747 cargo plane.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

We went behind the scenes with Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Middle Eastern mega carrier Emirates, at its Dubai cargo hub to see how thousands of packages are transported every day from the furthest reaches of the globe to the doorstep of consumers.

Inside Emirates SkyCargo facility in Dubai — Dubai Airshow 2021 — Touring the Emirates SkyCargo operation in Dubai.

Dubai International Airport is one of the many gateways to the Middle East, through which thousands of travelers will pass daily en route to hundreds of destinations across the globe.

Emirates Airbus A380 Flight New York to Dubai — Dubai Airshow Trip 2021 — Flying on an Emirates A380 from New York to Dubai.

But opposite its glitzy passenger terminal is a lesser-seen but equally important terminal that moves thousands of boxes and containers every day, helping keep global supply chains running smoothly.

Just as Emirates’ passenger planes transport people to, from, and through Dubai, its SkyCargo division does the same. Away from passenger view, it’s one of the least glamorous aspects of the aviation industry and one that not many expected to be in the public spotlight.

Emirates’ freighter aircraft help move goods from what’s known as the “world’s factory,” or the regions of the world that make most of its products and goods including China, Vietnam, and India, Sultan said.

Those regions require more air cargo capacity than Emirates’ passenger aircraft could provide, spurring the need for a standalone cargo division for its aircraft.

Once in Dubai, goods are either delivered to customers in the region or transferred onto other aircraft bound for places like Africa, Europe, the Americas, or other Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Every one of Emirates’ aircraft, split between the passenger and cargo divisions, can carry freight.

One Boeing 777-200F aircraft had just arrived from Hong Kong during our visit. Cargo unloaders descended first on the rear of the aircraft, with one focusing on the upper deck and another on the belly hold.

The 777-200F has a rear cargo door through which all upper deck cargo is loaded and unloaded. It takes around 30 seconds for the cargo to be taken off the plane and lowered to ground level, where it’s put on a dolly for transport.

Once the rear section is unloaded, the team of around 10 ground handlers unloads the forward section. Unloading both sections at once presents a weight and balance issue that could cause the aircraft to become either nose or tail-heavy, which can possibly result in damage.

Each pallet can hold a maximum of 5,000 kilograms of freight if it’s being stored in the lower deck of an aircraft. But on the upper deck, pallets can hold a maximum of 6,800 kilograms of freight and can be stacked as high as three meters as the upper deck is larger than the lower hold.

Onboard the aircraft, power-driven units allow ground handling staff to quickly move pallets around the aircraft. Workers don’t have to physically push pallets and can let the machines do all the heavy lifting.

Packages aren’t the only items that Emirates will carry on its plane. Luxury cars and prized racehorses are also frequent SkyCargo passengers.

“Flown as booked” is a key performance metric for packages and helps identify weaknesses or issues in the system. If a package doesn’t make it onto the flight on which it was scheduled, staff will work to identify why and resolve any issues that might have prevented it from being loaded onto its scheduled flight.

Passengers will always take priority on passenger flights, even if it means leaving some cargo behind to take the next flight.

“Passengers [are] number one because they are driving the whole fleet of passenger aircraft,” Bert Allard Jorritsma, manager of Emirates SkyCargo’s special cargo service delivery, told Insider on the tour. “With freighters, we may have a little bit of leeway but we really work on on-time performance.”

Cargo is then taken from the plane to the cargo facility where it will be temporarily stored until its next flight or taken into Dubai for local delivery. Dubai Airports owns the facility but Emirates SkyCargo is the primary tenant.

The first two floors are dedicated to breaking down and building up pallets that arrive and depart from the facility. A package might arrive on a pallet from Hong Kong, for example, and then get taken out of that pallet and restacked onto another pallet bound for the US.

Each section of the facility services a different type of cargo. One section might be filled with boxes of general cargo while another is dedicated to pharmaceutical goods.

Once pallets and containers arrive at the facility on “dolly trains,” or multiple pallets driven by a ground handler, an automated system called the pallet container handling system, or PCHS, takes over and sends them throughout the facility.

Just like how passengers have itineraries that link to a record locator number, packages have air waybills. Multiple air waybills can be stacked in a single container or pallet and air waybill numbers help staff to identify which packages go onto which flight.

Around 80% of goods that arrive in Dubai aren’t staying in Dubai and will be transferred to other aircraft. But just like the transit passengers in the commercial terminal, goods won’t stay in Dubai long.

Some goods won’t even enter the facility and will be transferred to other aircraft directly on the airport’s tarmac.

Emirates consolidated its SkyCargo operation at Dubai International Airport during the pandemic to take advantage of the reduced traffic levels at the airport. In the past, SkyCargo operations were split between Dubai International and Al Maktoum International to the south of the city, with around 50 trucks making 350-400 trips bringing cargo between the two airports

Temperature is a critical factor for the cargo facility, especially as Dubai temperatures can frequently exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

While general cargo doesn’t require a specific temperature range, pharmaceutical goods often require lower temperatures. The coldest section of the facility has a temperature range of two degrees Celsius to eight degrees Celsius, or between around 35 degrees Fahrenheit to 46 degrees Fahrenheit, and that doesn’t include the freezers that can get even cooler.

A slightly warmer section, however, has a range of 15 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius, or around 59 degrees Fahrenheit to around 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

A dual-vendor power supply keeps the air conditioning running and makes these warehouses feel like Antarctica while the sweltering Dubai heat is just beyond its walls. Power outages are rare but in the event that one does occur, a backup diesel generator stands ready to take over to prevent spoilage.

Refrigerated unit load devices provide a “closed door-to-door cool chain” for products that need to be kept at a specific temperature range. The containers are not opened in transit and are simply moved from aircraft to cold storage and back to aircraft.

Temperatures on each container are checked and the batteries that power the refrigeration systems are charged. Once they arrive at their destinations and are emptied, they can be used to store general cargo so that they’re not wasting space on freighters when Emirates has to fly them back to their origins.

Security was also a factor as the vaccines were among the most valuable cargo being shipped in 2020 and precautions needed to be taken to avoid theft or mishandling. The first doses to arrive in Dubai were kept in a locked and sealed container.

“The first were batches obviously were so important that we wanted to exclude any risk of anything happening,” Jorritsma said. Cameras and security guards provide security for the entire facility, and anybody that tries to leave the cargo area of the airport has to pass through a security checkpoint.

“For air freight, specifically, I think it’s a clear recognition of all the value it can have,” Jorritsma, a former Martinair and Air France – KLM Cargo employee, said. “Although the passengers could not fly, it was seen that there was a very clear demand for air freight because logistics has to go on.”

Just how long the shipping crisis keeps air freight flying high remains to be seen. But Emirates and other cargo airlines are spending billions in the hopes that air freight continues to be lucrative.

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Delays in ocean shipping and an overall decrease in international passenger flights on which cargo is moved have driven up the prices to ship freight by air.

We went behind the scenes with Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Middle Eastern mega carrier Emirates, at its Dubai cargo hub to see how thousands of packages are transported every day from the furthest reaches of the globe to the doorstep of consumers.

Dubai International Airport is one of the many gateways to the Middle East, through which thousands of travelers will pass daily en route to hundreds of destinations across the globe.

But opposite its glitzy passenger terminal is a lesser-seen but equally important terminal that moves thousands of boxes and containers every day, helping keep global supply chains running smoothly.

Just as Emirates’ passenger planes transport people to, from, and through Dubai, its SkyCargo division does the same. Away from passenger view, it’s one of the least glamorous aspects of the aviation industry and one that not many expected to be in the public spotlight.

Emirates’ freighter aircraft help move goods from what’s known as the “world’s factory,” or the regions of the world that make most of its products and goods including China, Vietnam, and India, Sultan said.

Those regions require more air cargo capacity than Emirates’ passenger aircraft could provide, spurring the need for a standalone cargo division for its aircraft.

One Boeing 777-200F aircraft had just arrived from Hong Kong during our visit. Cargo unloaders descended first on the rear of the aircraft, with one focusing on the upper deck and another on the belly hold.

The 777-200F has a rear cargo door through which all upper deck cargo is loaded and unloaded. It takes around 30 seconds for the cargo to be taken off the plane and lowered to ground level, where it’s put on a dolly for transport.

Once the rear section is unloaded, the team of around 10 ground handlers unloads the forward section. Unloading both sections at once presents a weight and balance issue that could cause the aircraft to become either nose or tail-heavy, which can possibly result in damage.

Each pallet can hold a maximum of 5,000 kilograms of freight if it’s being stored in the lower deck of an aircraft. But on the upper deck, pallets can hold a maximum of 6,800 kilograms of freight and can be stacked as high as three meters as the upper deck is larger than the lower hold.

Onboard the aircraft, power-driven units allow ground handling staff to quickly move pallets around the aircraft. Workers don’t have to physically push pallets and can let the machines do all the heavy lifting.

Packages aren’t the only items that Emirates will carry on its plane. Luxury cars and prized racehorses are also frequent SkyCargo passengers.

Passengers will always take priority on passenger flights, even if it means leaving some cargo behind to take the next flight.

Cargo is then taken from the plane to the cargo facility where it will be temporarily stored until its next flight or taken into Dubai for local delivery. Dubai Airports owns the facility but Emirates SkyCargo is the primary tenant.

The first two floors are dedicated to breaking down and building up pallets that arrive and depart from the facility. A package might arrive on a pallet from Hong Kong, for example, and then get taken out of that pallet and restacked onto another pallet bound for the US.

Each section of the facility services a different type of cargo. One section might be filled with boxes of general cargo while another is dedicated to pharmaceutical goods.

Once pallets and containers arrive at the facility on “dolly trains,” or multiple pallets driven by a ground handler, an automated system called the pallet container handling system, or PCHS, takes over and sends them throughout the facility.

Just like how passengers have itineraries that link to a record locator number, packages have air waybills. Multiple air waybills can be stacked in a single container or pallet and air waybill numbers help staff to identify which packages go onto which flight.

Around 80% of goods that arrive in Dubai aren’t staying in Dubai and will be transferred to other aircraft. But just like the transit passengers in the commercial terminal, goods won’t stay in Dubai long.

Some goods won’t even enter the facility and will be transferred to other aircraft directly on the airport’s tarmac.

Temperature is a critical factor for the cargo facility, especially as Dubai temperatures can frequently exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

A slightly warmer section, however, has a range of 15 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius, or around 59 degrees Fahrenheit to around 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

Refrigerated unit load devices provide a “closed door-to-door cool chain” for products that need to be kept at a specific temperature range. The containers are not opened in transit and are simply moved from aircraft to cold storage and back to aircraft.

Security was also a factor as the vaccines were among the most valuable cargo being shipped in 2020 and precautions needed to be taken to avoid theft or mishandling. The first doses to arrive in Dubai were kept in a locked and sealed container.

Just how long the shipping crisis keeps air freight flying high remains to be seen. But Emirates and other cargo airlines are spending billions in the hopes that air freight continues to be lucrative.

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