MD-11F range?
 

Perusing Flightaware I have noticed that freight flights out of Anchorage (FDX/UPS/EVA/WORLD/SHANGHAI) are making 4500nm+ trips (ZSPD/VHHH/RCTP...etc) and I know that the MD-11F has some legs provided there is a cut in payload but does anyone have a rough idea numbers wise as to how much freight these aircraft are taking off with?

Thanks!

Don't take it as gospel, it's from the interwbz afterall. But a bit of an interesting read on the MD11. It's just a copy-paste, so filter out the passenger stuff. And I'm sure some guys that have experience may be able to clarify/correct any inaccuracies;

Hmm if I understand this correctly the 2HR stop in ANC allows for a greater amount of freight to be uplifted onward to Asia?

Again, I don't have any personal experience.

But I'd venture to guess that ALA does the same thing for flights between Europe and Asia.

Yeah that does make sense.....I'm sure some of the FDX/UPS guys and gals with jump in at some point...

Long read, but related to this thread
 

Wall Street Journal
Jennifer Levitz
July 14, 2010

777s To Deliver An Edge...

At a brainstorming session several years ago, FedEx Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Frederick W. Smith and his counterpart at Boeing Co. used a napkin to sketch a cargo version of the aircraft maker's 777 passenger jet.

Today Mr. Smith, who launched the overnight-delivery business when he founded FedEx in 1971, says the plane that emerged from those talks is crucial to his company's recovery from the recession.

FedEx hopes to use its growing fleet of long-range 777s to win business from competitors like United Parcel Service Inc. in the lucrative market for international package delivery, and to cater to the rising middle classes in India, China, and Brazil, which Mr. Smith says increasingly want the latest product delivered to their door within a day or two.

"It's quite a machine," the 66-year-old former Marine pilot says of the Boeing "triple seven," the largest, twin-engine plane on the market. "It's given us a whole new dimension into what we can do," he adds.

The aircraft can carry 178,000 pounds at long distances and has a range of 6,675 miles, about 14,000 pounds and over 2,100 miles more than the MD-11, which has been Fed-Ex's chief long-haul freighter.

FedEx, which won't disclose what it is paying for the planes, took delivery of its first six 777s in September, and expects to add six more to its fleet over the next 12 months. It plans to spend $3.2 billion overall on planes, new sorting centers, and other improvements in the fiscal year ending May 31, 2011, up from $2.8 billion a year earlier.

The 777s are coming into service as FedEx and UPS are seeing new life in the overseas-shipping business. FedEx's international loads are at their highest since 2000, Mr. Smith says. Shipments by air are rising, as companies that slashed their inventories during the recession are scrambling to rebuild them and avoid leaving customers in the lurch.

That's where the 777 comes in. The plane can fly between major cities in the U.S. and Asia without stopping to refuel in Anchorage, Alaska, where FedEx has a hub. Because they don't need to stop for fuel, the 777 can make the trip one to three hours faster than the MD-11.

FedEx says the time savings allows it to give its Asian customers, who air-freight products ranging from electronics to toys to apparel, two extra hours a day to manufacture their goods and still get them shipped out for next-day delivery. The company calls the planes a "game changer.

Its leading rival is skeptical of that claim. "We don't believe it's a game changer," says UPS spokesman Norman Black. "If we see any material change in competitive pick up times, we have ways of adjusting our own network to address that."

Mr. Black says FedEx is spending more on new planes than is UPS, whose main long-haul freighters are the Boeing 747-400 and MD-11.

FedEx and UPS play a huge role in global commerce, together carrying roughly 10% of the U.S. gross domestic product and 3.5% of global gross domestic product at any given time, based on their own estimates. That's why the two companies tend to be among the first to spot a downturn or turnaround.

In the fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31, revenue from FedEx Express, which delivers world-wide by a definite date and hour, and accounts for the bulk of FedEx's revenue, grew by 23% after falling 24% a year earlier. FedEx added a ninth scheduled daily U.S.-Asia flight in April, and a third between Asia and Europe.

Its average daily volume of packages shipped across the Atlantic or Pacific rose 23% in the quarter led by a 41% increase in exports from Asia, while the express unit's U.S. volume rose 1%. "That's why we have a relative degree of optimism, perhaps not shared by others. If they're just hooked into the local economy, they may not share that general optimism," Mr. Smith said.

While he is generally upbeat about FedEx's global business, Mr. Smith is less enthusiastic about the U.S. economy, though he doesn't expect a double-dip recession. "I think the likelihood of that is low, but I think the greater likelihood is that the United States will have tepid growth," he says.

Still, he is more confident than in December 2008, when said FedEx faced the worst economic conditions in its history. In response, FedEx lowered its cost structure, cutting $3 billion in expenses in fiscal years 2009 and 2010. "Pilots flew fewer flight hours, the mechanics had fewer hours, and pick up and delivery people, [sorters], and so forth," Mr. Smith says. Senior officers, including Mr. Smith, took pay cuts, and the company froze 401(k) matches.

Since then, FedEx has restored some flight hours and retirement-plan benefits. Still, about $1.5 billion of the austerity measures remain in place, including Mr. Smith's pay cut.

Even with global demand improving, Mr. Smith concedes that his company's investment in the new 777s is an aggressive one. By the end of fiscal 2016, the company plans to have 31 777s in its fleet.

But he says, the new planes' fuel efficiency-they consume 18% less fuel than an MD-11-would be an advantage even if business turned lower. "If we're wrong, the only thing we have to do is put an MD-11 on the ground," he says. "The secret of this business is you've got to have a defensive strategy, as well as an offensive strategy."

Wall Street Journal
Jennifer Levitz
July 14, 2010

^Apparently, freight does mind the two hour stop in ANC.

No, the freight doesn't care - it's still the people.

Shippers of premium express freight do mind the extra 2 hours they have prior to the shipping cut-off point to the US, or so says Fed Ex.

deleted.......

When a direct flight gives a later deadline for people shipping freight who pay for said freight to make it on time then the freight minds. But I can tell you've got to be right so......sure, the freight doesn't might.

Mostly a lot of empty cans ... FWIW

:rolleyes:

No Range whatsoever
 

I can tell you that the MD-11s at FDX have no range at all....it does have a cooler, a coffee maker, hot cup, and a pretty nice little oven.:D

What, No refrigerator ? The horror ... :D

I bet that will be the next thing UPS mtc will inop on our MDs.

Running water has been turned off for awhile.

Chiller box on the MD-11s

Two big beds, fluffy pillows and thick blankets as well.

Yikes no refrig......that must suck for those 6+ Hour flights........so basically the MD-11F is "ok" for these type of "milk" runs up north carting a medium sized payload across the north pacific?

You would be surprised what a small container with some dry ice can do. Keeps things as cool as they need to be.

Ha. Guess it brings the creative side out of you I suppose.

Cactus,

The fridges are supposed to be on their way out. I was told that the geniuses that turn off the a/c on a weekend layover never think about the fridge when it defrosts. That water then runs down behind the fridge, down onto the bulkhead, and starts the corrosion process. I was told that we would be getting coolers in their places. Yippee! :mad:

That's going to work great on a 8+ hour flight with a crew of 3 and 2 company ACMs.

Like you said ... :mad:

As with everything else, you're free to copy what FedEx does, so suck it up, quit your bellyaching, and get that cheap-wad company of yours to spring for some chiller boxes. It keeps everything at just the right temperature, even the chocolate ice cream sundays that we get. Oh yeah, I forgot....:rolleyes:

Well I guess the B777F's are a welcome change then.....not to open that can of worms with the jump seat issues as that has been, as I have observed on this forum for a while, a sour issue to say the least.

Maybe there is some confusion. The "chiller" on an MD-11 is a refrigerator. All FedEx Md-11's have them. We also carry coolers filled with ice for our beverages. We also have running water. Our crew rest bunks are terrible, especially if you are 6' or taller and they are hot and stuffy.

Bottom line is that you can run five MDs for the price of of a single new 777.

That makes sense.

Yes, it does. And, you can also run about 100 727s for the price of a single new 777.:rolleyes:

Or a billion sporks.


"Prof. Friedman visited China in the early 1960s and was taken by a government official to see a public works project. Chinese workers were building a canal. Friedman was struck by seeing everyone digging the canal with shovels. Friedman asked the official, "why no heavy earth-moving equipment?" The official said, "oh, this is a jobs program." So Friedman then says to the official, "then why don't you just give them spoons instead of shovels to create even more jobs?"

Who knows how much longer the MDs will last? Brown seems to be betting on the 74 and purple on the 777 as replacements.

I guess the MD's have lived up to a some what decent reputation in the freight division...not seeing those lift offs will be sad at least in my opinion the MD-11/DC-10 look the best at rotation...

I think you will still be able to see MD-11s at rotation for a while - it'll be a while before Fedex gives them up.

To answer your original question:

I took 130,000 lbs of freight from ANC to RCTP a while back and that put us at 590,000 for take-off. So, with a max of 630,500 for takeoff, assuming we didn't bulk out, we probably could have put another ~30,000 lbs. of freight on plus the gas to carry it.

The most I've taken from RCTP to ANC is about 180,000 lbs. That's a max GW takeoff with favoring winter winds.

So, rough numbers - I'd say depending on the time of year and actual destination, an MD-11 could probably take a max of 150-170K lbs. to Asia from ANC and 160-180K lbs. coming back.

Great info thanks!