The Lightweight Advantage in Airfreight

21.

February

Lower freight costs, reduced emissions and no compromise to product safety

The healthcare industry demands specialized logistics solutions that balance cost, safety, and sustainability. Pharma’s increasing reliance on airfreight is clear: it doubled globally from 108.7 million ton-kilometers (TKM) in 1999 to almost 220 million in 2021 (World Bank, 2023). But airfreight typically costs 4-5 times more than road freight, and as much as 16 times more than ocean freight: so pharma shippers understandably demand maximum value from their airfreight budgets. At the same time, there is no room for compromise to the safety of their high-value cargo. And environmental impact remains a key and growing focus.

Enhanced Efficiency, Protection and Sustainability

KraftPal pallets offer a compelling solution that significantly improves transportation efficiency, while protecting cargo and reducing emissions.

More efficient use of your investment in airfreight

As most shipping professionals know, air freight costs are based on weight or volume, generally using a conversion ratio of 6000cc = I kilo. This means that most pharma and medical traffic is “dense” cargo, charged according to its weight, rather than “volume” cargo charged by its volume. It follows that anything which lightens a pre-palletised “dense” shipment will also reduce its freight cost. The good news? KraftPal pallets are less than a THIRD of the weight of legacy wooden pallets: 7.5kg vs. 25kg.

So, even where cargo is shipped (and charged) as full container or airline pallet loads (ULDs), reductions in the weight of packaging can still reduce your unit shipping costs, as more product can be carried before the ULD reaches its maximum weight. This applies equally to full plane charters, where KraftPal’s lightweight pallets can achieve better use of the available volume or maximum weight limit.

Finally, the specially-designed KraftPal AF range fits 60% more pallets on a 10 ft flat pallet ULD (PMC/P6P), once again shipping more product at the same cost – so reducing unit shipping costs. And the reduced height of KraftPal pallets achieves 26cm more useable load height per stack, enabling more product to be shipped at the same cost.

Example 1:

A shipment from Vienna (VIE) to New York (JFK) via DHL, comprising one 200kg EUR-3 pallet (1200mm x 1000mm x 1000mm). The lighter KraftPal pallet directly reduces the chargeable weight, resulting in cost savings:

Example 2: Load Space utilisation comparisons

And not forgetting . . .

Durability and Strength

Despite being lightweight, KraftPal pallets are remarkably durable, supporting static loads up to 4,500 kg (1500 kg in transit) and offering typical load capacities of 400-500 kg. This combination of strength and efficiency makes them an ideal replacement for one-way legacy wooden pallets.

Saving the planet

KraftPal empowers pharmaceutical companies to achieve their sustainability and net-zero targets.

Easy to handle, recycle, and integrate, these pallets offer a seamless way to modernize logistics and minimize environmental impact. The manufacture of Kraftpal pallets substantially reduces de-forestation compared to legacy wooden pallets.

The lower weight of Kraftpal pallets also directly reduces fuel consumption and associated CO2 emissions:

And KraftPal pallets are easy to recycle and fully recyclable, avoiding the landfill problems of legacy wooden pallets.

KraftPal empowers pharmaceutical companies to achieve sustainability and net-zero targets. Easy to handle, recycle, and integrate, these pallets offer a seamless way to modernize logistics and minimize environmental impact.

KraftPal’s pallets are today’s solution for tomorrow’s world: they align perfectly with corporate sustainability goals and satisfy the new EU CSRD reporting requirements.