Headline News, News, ULD CARE News, Conferences
Newsletter no 48 – November 2022
Nov
It’s almost been 3 months since we held the first in-person ULD CARE meeting since 2019. For those who attended the meeting, we hope you found it to be of value. And for those who were unable to attend, we hope to see you next year. It was certainly remarkable to be able to meet face-to-face with our industry colleagues whom we had not seen in person for so long.
This year, the ULD CARE conference was run alongside other events held under the Air Cargo Handling banner. We were very happy to be able to interact with quite a number of people from the ground handling and cargo handling communities.
A wide range of photos from the conference, the reunion video, various presentations as well as various interviews can be found here:
ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2022 ARCHIVESThe conference itself covered many very interesting and highly relevant topics. The key ones being:
Regaining control of ULD assets
This topic highlighted the work done to this day by ULD CARE to provide the airline users of ULD with a platform to record and report ULD moves to off airport parties such as forwarders. Read more on this in the accompanying article “Off airport ULD- the numbers tell the story”.
Bringing Digitalization to ULD Day-to-Day Operations
Digitalization is on everyone’s mind these days. Certainly as the industry struggles to be more efficient. And it seems safe to say that the ULD CARE project to finally replace the paper-based UCR is the right solution to face the industry’s current challenges. Read more on this in the accompanying article “Bringing Digitalization to ULD Day-to-Day Operations”.
Safety: always front and center
No ULD CARE conference would be complete without a session on safety. And in this year’s event two aspects were highlighted: the ever-present challenges of fire containment and the use of cargo straps to restrain heavy cargo. Both subjects offer opportunities for innovation from both ULD CARE and our OEM members. And ULD CARE remains committed to promoting such initiatives.
Smart ULD is part of the story, the workplace also needs adequately trained people
It is no secret that the entire airline industry faces a massive staffing problem. Finding sufficient people willing to work in often unpleasant conditions and at unsocial hours for low wages has been hard (just a few days ago London’s Heathrow announced they are still short 25000 workers). But assuming the industry does manage to employ sufficient people, the next challenge is to provide cost effective and measurable training. When it comes to ULD, it is our belief at ULD CARE that a big part of the answer lies in technology as face-to-face training is simply not cost-effective these days. This is why ULD CARE, together with Airport College, will continue to pursue all opportunities in this direction.
Sustainability: how can the ULD industry contribute?
As with safety, no ULD CARE conference can ignore this subject. And ULD operations appear to be an area where some interesting developments can be implemented. One example of this is the recycling of used air cargo nets. Indeed, a case can be made that changes the way in which ULD are used (and abused). And this could be a leading example of taking positive steps to improve the sustainability of air cargo. In addition to discussing this subject during the ULD CARE event, our director, Jos Jacobsen, was one of 5 panellists at the Air Cargo Handling session on this subject.
Welcome reception
And, of course, no ULD CARE conference would be the same without our traditional welcome reception. This year, it was held round the poolside at the Hotel in Athens with the Acropolis in the background and was very kindly sponsored by SATCO. This was the perfect opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and launched the conference in great style.
Amsafe Bridport
We wrap up this newsletter with a round of applause for Amsafe Bridport who have carried out an extensive installation of solar panels on their facility in Sri Lanka, as shown in this photo. We understand that in sunny Sri Lanka a very large percentage of the factory’s power requirements are provided by this extensive installation.
