Portugal’s national airline and Star Alliance member TAP Portugal, and CHEP Aerospace Solutions, the leading independent provider of outsourced Unit Load Device (ULD) and galley cart services, have signed a four-year agreement for the supply and management of ULDs that is set to bring significant fuel savings and environmental benefits.
CHEP will add TAP Portugal’s 3,500 ULDs to its pool and will transition the airline’s aluminium containers to lightweight units within the first months of their partnership. The significantly reduced weight of the containers will help TAP Portugal save over 2.5 million euro in fuel costs and reduce carbon emission by 11,000 tonnes during the initial contract term.
TAP Portugal Lisbon’s Hub Director, Jorge Pi Massip, said: “We published a tender for the management of our ULD fleet because we were looking for a fully outsourced solution from a hands-on ULD management company that will provide us with significant cost savings and minimal intervention from our staff. Our in-depth due diligence process and analyses confirmed that a partnership with CHEP will reduce TAP Portugal’s ULD fleet size by approximately 15% and we can benefit from the synergies with CHEP’s global ULD pool. We also value CHEP’s commitment to provide us with new lightweight ULDs which will save TAP Portugal several million euro in fuel costs during our partnership. We received excellent feedback from several CHEP customer airlines and look forward to our successful cooperation.”
CHEP Aerospace Solutions President, Dr. Ludwig Bertsch, said: “We are delighted that Portugal’s flag carrier has joined our growing ULD management customer portfolio of over 30 airlines. TAP Portugal’s destinations in Europe, Africa and South America are a perfect fit for our ULD pool and the global coverage of our repair network of 50 stations will also minimise the costs of repositioning damaged ULDs. A dedicated account manager in Lisbon will ensure that TAP Portugal can focus on its core business of flying passengers and cargo whilst CHEP takes care of all ULD-related activities. We are confident that our partnership with TAP Portugal will deliver value to both parties.”
