As we move steadily into 2025, it is time for the first ULD CARE newsletter of the year and we indeed have a great deal to talk about.

2025 Conference

Although it’s still about seven months until we gather in Copenhagen for the 2025 ULD CARE conference, time is going to fly by.

The conference is taking place from October 14 to 16 so please save the date in your calendar. Once again, we will be holding our event alongside the much larger Air Cargo Handling Aviation Connect Program. There are many benefits that come with locating with a much larger community and one of our overriding ambitions is always to try to break out of the silos that are so prevalent in this whole Air Cargo industry.

And the benefits go both ways. On the one hand, we will be working hard to attract participants from other sectors of the industry to join our conversations. And on the other hand, we will have opportunities to present the ULD CARE story to the much larger Aviation Connect audience.

One of the disappointing aspects of last year’s event was the low attendance by our airline members and we are very keen to make a big improvement in this area this year. We also want to make sure that the conference content meets everybody’s expectations. Recently we sent out an email invitation to join a small working group dedicated to putting together a suitable program for the conference and also working to encouraging wider airline participation. As you know, ULD CARE is a member-supported organization, we therefore certainly look forward to your contribution in making the 2025 conference a success.

Information on sponsorship opportunities will be available very soon, and we hope to be able to reinstate our traditional opening party this year!

ULDigital

The ULD CARE ULDigitaLproject continues to make very good progress on several fronts.

As those of you at the conference may recall, we were showing off our latest progress in our RFID initiatives and we have now made a further giant step forward by integrating the reader and the app. The result is that a user can now scan any number of pallets with RFID tags and the IATA codes will immediately show up in the E-UCR app. To find out more about this feature, click here:

We are of the opinion that in managing to develop this RFID identification tag, ULD CARE has made a breakthrough not only in the area of managing ULD transfers but right across the entire ULD spectrum. We are already in discussion with an organization who provides load master services with regards to its application for verifying the correct location of ULD once loaded into the aircraft.

Meanwhile the IULDUG platform has been further enhanced, which enables the bulk import of MUC and LUC messages while also enabling the entry of transactions that occurred outside the standard 30-day period. We also now have a road map for adding a good number of enhancements to both the app and the system.

As we live in a world where everything is digital, it is time for ULD to be up to speed. The combination of the E-UCR, the updated IULDUG platform and the RFID tags deliver a very comprehensive solution.

We have also continued to develop the app and the platform, running POC exercises with different parties at different locations to identify any bugs but also to understand areas where we can enhance the operations.

Training

Training remains central to the ULD CARE mission, as without the knowledgeable handing of ULD, multiple issues arise! And we are delighted that our training partner Airport College has worked hard to set up a half page “ULD Corner” in the Ground Handling International magazine.

This insert will be repeated bimonthly throughout 2025, giving ULD and ULD CARE some nice visibility.

The material for these articles comes from our book “ULD Explained” using AI to condense and extract the relevant material for each issue… ULD CARE’s first AI steps, but certainly not the last.

And speaking of training and knowledge, those of you who were at last year’s conference will remember that 2 new ULD60 Seconds were introduced. This means we now have a total to 6 of these “free to air” videos, and a quick check on YouTube shows a total of about 50,000 views combined. We have two more in development that will launch at the 2025 conference. In the meantime, we highly recommend viewing these!

Sustainability

The ULD CARE working group, under the guidance of VRR’s Louise Platell, continues to move forward, Louise reports, “Progress on the ULD CARE Climate Impact Label is advancing. We have divided our team into two groups: one finalizes the label details, while the other establishes the issuing authority. Our goal is to have the label operational by the ULD CARE Conference in October.”

Annual IATA World Cargo Symposium

April 15^th thru 17^th will see the annual IATA World Cargo Symposium in Dubai, with the usual SAE and ULDB meetings on 13^th and 14^th April. We expect many of the ULD CARE community to be in Dubai over these days. We have set up a WhatsApp group " ULD CARE WCS 2025 to enable our community to connect with each other. To have your name added to this group please email Paryse with your registered WhatsApp number and you will be added to the group chat.

– Thank you!