Lightweight Containers to Help Lufthansa Save

The container fleet at Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo is being partially replaced by new containers made of a light plastic material.

The new containers are up to 15% lighter which means that kerosene consumption can be lowered by about 2,180 tonnes per year and Lufthansa will save 6,867 tonnes of CO2. A total of 5,000 containers are being replaced.

Initially the smaller containers, which are transported on the under-floor deck of passenger and cargo planes, will be replaced by 2015.

Lufthansa Cargo and Jettainer, a Lufthansa Cargo subsidiary, which deals with the logistics management of the transport containers, have carried out extensive on-board testing of the new containers, which will be used both for transporting passengers' luggage as well as for cargo shipments. The result of the tests show the containers need fewer repairs than conventional transport containers made of aluminium, and satisfy all the necessary standards.

The Chairman of the Board and CEO of Lufthansa Cargo, Karl Ulrich Garnadt, said, “The new light containers are another step towards achieving our ambitious targets to reduce emissions. Together with Jettainer we are targeting investment in the latest technology and in the Lufthansa group will therefore operate the largest fleet of lightweight containers in the world.”

In order to achieve this, the development of new generations of lightweight containers as well as the expansion of this technology to other types of containers will be pushed forward, the Cargo manager emphasized.

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