Hongyuan Group, a corporation providing global trade, supply chain finance, logistics real estate and freight services, has entered into a five-year unit load device (ULD) supply and management partnership with Unilode Aviation Solutions,  a market leader in outsourced ULD management and repair services.

Hongyuan Group operates a fleet of B747-400F aircraft to destinations in China, UK, Belgium and the USA, and transports more than 200,000 tonnes of import and export cargo each year. Within the next five years, the Hongyuan Group plans to increase its geographic footprint and expand its fleet to 15 aircraft. The new agreement will see Unilode supply and manage 1,000 digitised pallets to Hongyuan in the first year, and gradually increase the stock to over 3,000 pallets during the initial five-year term of the partnership.

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Helen Chen, general manager of capacity management, Hongyuan Group, said: “We are pleased to enter into a ULD management agreement with Unilode as it will provide Hongyuan Group with an efficient end-to-end ULD solution including procurement, repair and operations. Unilode’s pooled pallet fleet will solve our previous ULD repositioning challenges and reduce our ULD-related costs. Digitalisation was also an important factor in our decision to select Unilode as Hongyuan’s ULD management partner and we look forward to a successful long-term partnership that will support our company’s rapid growth.”

Marc Groenewegen, chief commercial officer, Unilode, said: “We are proud of the addition of such a large Chinese logistics provider to our customer portfolio and welcome the Hongyuan Group as Unilode’s new ULD management customer. We are committed to supporting our new partner’s operations and facilitating its network and fleet expansion plans with ULD solutions that can flexibly be adapted to its needs. Unilode will provide ULD repairs at the Hongyuan Group’s key destinations in PVG, BRU and LHR to reduce the need to fly damaged pallets back to the hub and will enable access to the geo-location data supplied by Unilode’s digital pallets at no extra cost.”