The cargo backlog at Chicago O’Hare Airport lasted for up to six weeks, and a logistics company planned to “steal” its own cargo

It is reported that O'Hare International Airport (O'Hare International Airport), a major cargo center in the central United States, is becoming increasingly congested. A freight forwarder said that it has been stuck with cargo for six weeks.

Desperate logistics service providers in Chicago are adopting a series of strategies to pick up goods, including bribing warehouse personnel to secretly retrieve their goods, and logistics companies are planning to build their own freight stations near the airport.

The freight management company said that the backlog of goods is so serious that the warehouse stores rows of containers in the parking lot, and it may take up to 10 days to retrieve a batch of goods. Delivery trucks often queue for several hours for goods, and some local freight companies refuse to deliver goods from certain airlines.

The situation is so bad that a third-party logistics company planned a "robbery" of its own goods.

A company said: "We will send a truck from the factory, with a forklift behind, about six or seven people, pay the warehouse staff to find our goods, and then use the forklift to load the trailer to transport the goods out." "When you When you pay someone in cash, they will allow you to do so. This is currently the only way to pick up the goods as quickly as possible."

▎O'Hare Airport has explosive growth in cargo volume, but there is a shortage of labor

In the past 18 months, in order to import personal protective equipment, replenish depleted commodity inventories, and overcome disruptions in manufacturing and maritime supply chains, companies have turned to air freight, and O’Hare Airport’s cargo volume has exploded.

At the same time, there is a shortage of airport staff and there is not enough space to quickly handle the mountain of cargo unloaded from the giant cargo plane.

Data from the Chicago Aviation Department show that in 2020, O’Hare Airport’s cargo volume (by weight) has increased by 14.8% to more than 2 million tons, and freighter flights have increased by 25% to 30,399. Chicago is a major cargo center in the central United States, and its international imports of wide-body aircraft have grown much faster than other large gateways.

The rate of inflow of goods has not slowed down this year. Other airports also experienced cargo congestion, but not as severe as O’Hare Airport. As of June this year, the number of international all-cargo flights at the airport has increased by 17.8% year-on-year, and international cargo volume has soared by 46% to 871,000 tons.

Evan Rosen, president of freight forwarding company EFL Global Americas, described the air cargo logistics at Chicago O’Hare Airport as a “disaster”.

He pointed out that there are only a few staff in large warehouses to sort goods and load them onto trucks. "Some of our goods have been trapped for six weeks, and we are still trying to find them from the warehouse. Customers pay $9 to $10 per kilo for air freight, but I haven't picked up their goods after six weeks."

As airlines have significantly reduced flight operations and health concerns caused by the new crown epidemic, ground handling companies have lost many employees due to layoffs, and it is now difficult to refill vacancies.

Alliance Ground International said they are trying to fill 200 vacancies at five facilities inside and outside the airport, and expressed hope that the labor force reserve will increase when the federal government’s extended unemployment benefits expire on September 1.

▎Most freight forwarding and logistics companies are trying to bypass airport warehouses

Most freight forwarders are making every effort to bypass the airport cargo terminal.

A recent approach is that logistics providers use their own unit load devices (ULD) instead of letting airlines pack their own goods and other people's goods in a package. If the cargo is placed in a ULD, it is more likely that the cargo will be ready soon after arriving at the destination airport, because the airport ground staff does not need to disassemble the package and classify the individual cargo.

Rosen said: "We no longer ship bulk cargo from the airline of origin, nor do we ship non-ULD-loaded cargo to Chicago. Although the average cost per kilogram increases when the cargo does not fill a leased ULD, I You can’t let the cargo wait two months for the airline to be picked up.”

"The solution is to bypass the airport warehouse and transfer the cargo directly to its own cargo terminal for decomposition after being unloaded from the plane." said Neel Jones Shah, Executive Vice President of Flexport and Director of Air Cargo.

He said Flexport also plans to increase the capacity of a dedicated charter network operated by Atlas Air and is considering alternative airports that are not congested. For example, German logistics companies DB Schenker and Senator International established a cargo terminal near Chicago's Rockford International Airport earlier this year and transferred cargo planes under their own control there.