apparatus 4 in fig1 is a first vertical store 5 of which the lowermost level has the transporting path 3 a running through it this first vertical store 5 preferably serves for storing storage units which coming from the air side are intended for retrieval on the land side and are thus buffer stored in the vicinity of the truck loading area in order to be capable of being loaded quickly the vertical store comprises a plurality of storage levels 5 a 5 b which are arranged one above the other on both sides of a lifting means 5 c the lifting means 5 c receives the loading unit from the transporting path 3 a and lifts it vertically into alignment with one of a number of storage levels 5 a 5 b arranged one above the other and stores it there a second vertical store 5 is provided further along the transporting path 3 a in the vicinity of the air side this vertical store too serves for the interim or buffer storage of loading units in the vicinity of the location where they are required accordingly the loading units buffer stored there are preferably ones which coming from the.