The dark side of preighters

They are praised for being Corona Heroes – ground handling agents at airports loading and unloading so called ‘preighters’. Yet, the tribute they pay is high: Aching backs, sore arms, trembling legs – that is how many ramp agents and ground handlers feel after unloading a preighter filled with packages, piled high from floor to ceiling and weighing up to 30 kg or sometimes even more.

The cargo industry, media, medics and even politics are full of respect when it comes to uninterrupted supply chains during the pandemic, express deliveries of Personal Protective Equipment, or air transports of urgently needed tools and components to complete industrial products. A great number of these items were and still are flown on board of so-called preighters. These are passenger aircraft in two variations: either stripped of their seats and used as an additional cargo hold, or still containing their seat-rows and having boxes piled on and under those seats. However, seen from the ground handler’s perspective, these are not enviable activities. They are physically highly demanding and mostly poorly paid. Ramp agent Rayhan Ahmed of Menzies Aviation, working on the apron of London Heathrow Airport, describes these specific labor conditions that he experiences on a daily basis:

Enormous dedication
“Discharging shipments off preighters is an extremely tough job, where teamwork is key,” states Mr. Ahmed. A prerequisite for the proper functioning is forming a line of ground handling personnel, who pass parcels from one person to the next, and load them onto vehicles standing on the apron, bound for warehouses once fully loaded, he explains. After a shift, “arms are aching, backs are aching, muscles are aching, workwear is dripping with sweat; typical stress situations my colleagues and I constantly experience while carrying out our duties.”
No question, the job needs doing, but given these adverse conditions, the morale is low. This exhausting situation experienced day in, day out will probably last until the end of 2021 with temporarily installed cargo chutes being the only option to ease the burden of work to a certain extent. If not, “absences and sick notes will go up with ground handling staff quitting the job,” his thought-provoking note ends.    

Physical and mental stress
Rayhan Ahmed’s concerns are not unfounded, confirms medic Doctor Michael Otto, specialist in general practice. He knows aviation from years of personal experience because, prior to starting his medical career, Dr. Otto served as flight attendant for some time. In addition to his work in his own medical practice in Lunenburg, Lower Saxony, he is one of 50 doctors flying out to Nairobi 3 or 4 times each year, to provide medical care to the 120 orphans looked after and sponsored by Cargo Human Care, a LH Cargo aid organization in Kenya, as well as to the local community there.
CFG asked him to comment on Mr. Ahmed’s critical views on preighter issues. Here is what Dr. Otto had to say: “Unlike all-cargo aircraft, preighters do not have a sophisticated loading system that limits physical stress. Every single shipment must be loaded and unloaded by hand, forming human chains. This can quickly lead to muscular overload for some ground workers involved during a single shift.”