ULD CARE Latest News December 2014

Welcome to the last newsletter of 2014. Except for a few updates on recent news, no article will be featured in this edition. As the year draws to an end, we would like to convey our Seasons Greetings and wish all of you Happy Holidays and a Safe and Prosperous New Year 2015.

First, the announcement of the date and location for the next ULD CARE Annual Conference.  We can now confirm to you that the Conference will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from August 31^st to September 3, 2015. 

We will break new ground next year joining forces with the Air Cargo Handling Conference (same time, same city and same hotel). This will provide for a much greater degree of integration between the two events and a great opportunity to sit together with our colleagues from the air cargo handling community.

We are happy to share with you that we have three important sponsorships confirmed for the event:  CHEP Aerospace Solutions has offered to sponsor the Welcome Reception, Cargo Network will take care of the Spousal Program and ZODIAC Air Cargo Equipment will sponsor the Farewell Dinner.  We want to take this opportunity to thank these 3 loyal members for their support. 

Understanding that most of our readers are busy dealing with the pressures of the cargo peak, we will follow a policy of previous years and use this year-end issue to both summarize the year gone by and touch on what we plan for 2015. 2014 has been a year of continuing development and two initiatives launched through ULD CARE, the use of the 4^th digit of the ULD code to identify functional differences and the updated ULD Control Receipt  (UCR), have both moved forward to become IATA standards.

The IATA ULD regulations have now been in force for almost 2 years and are achieving an increased reputation as the global standard for ULD operations. Over the year we have seen various other industry documentation such as the IATA ISAGO and IGOM programs expand their coverage of ULD and work continues on further enhancement of ULD related material in these and other industry documents.

2014 has also seen not one but two ULD Regulatory Forums, both organised by IATA with the intention of bringing together as wide a range of industry stakeholders as possible to discuss regulatory issues and operational challenges.

And ULD has been increasingly represented at industry meetings and this year we were able to make a significant presentation at the IATA Ground Handling Council Conference, further building our links with the ground handling community.

Within the ULD CARE sphere, we have conducted a very productive Annual Conference in September, which has led to the launch of a number of fresh initiatives to be concluded before next year’s meeting. One of the clear outcomes in Mainz was the need to have a better manner in which to communicate the “ULD Message” to the management level of all stakeholders in the air cargo industry.  This is why ULD CARE has embarked on a project to create a 3 to 5 minute video which will address the key issues surrounding ULD activities. This video is scheduled to be completed in time for the IATA World Cargo Symposium (March 2015) where it will be used in various parts of the program and will of course from that time on be available for members of ULD CARE to use in their own activities. It is the expectation that this video can form the backbone of a communications strategy that will also include other forms of media, delivering a cohesive message to the industry.

Finally, other projects going on include work on the enhanced Standard Handling Agreement and the creation of a set of standard audit checklists for use by airlines wishing to carry out their own audits on the various aspects of ULD Operations (their own and those of their service providers).

Stay tune for another dynamic year of ULD activity.