On June 7, 2012, Twelve members and guests toured the Federal Express Facility and Operations at SeaTac airport on April 9th. We met and talked with the Facility Manager about the science of moving packages throughout the USA and internationally. Then we went down to watch for last hour of activity before the plane(s) left for Memphis at exactly 7:07 PM. Everything is timed to maximum the numbers of packages that are loaded while maintaining convenience to the package sender without delaying any down stream users (i.e. “the big sort” in Memphis in the middle of the night).
We saw trucks of all sizes containing packages showing up on the south side of the facility and containers of loaded airplane containers coming out the north side. The containers were then loaded directly onto the awaiting MD-11Fs headed to Memphis. Some cargo was sent (on a later flight) to the West Coast regional sort facility in Oakland CA, and a few more packages were sent to Portland by truck.
We also got to see the Federal Express pallet build-up facility where the “heavy” cargo (anything over 150 lbs) is loaded directly onto pallets. These pallets were then covered in plastic and the cargo net attached. These pallets were then sent to the same MD-11F airplanes heading to Memphis or Oakland.