The last week of October saw a gathering of over 700 delegates at the Aviation Connect Conference in Istanbul and connected did putting together under one roof at one time delegates from Air Cargo Handling, ASA Airport Services Association, ULD CARE, Airfreight Pharma, Road Feeder Services and GSE & Ramp Ops Global.
     Combining group plenary sessions attended by delegates from all disciplines and separate sessions for individual organisations worked out very well, as it enabled people to break out from their individual silos and hear what other segments of the industry have to say.
     And of course, with 700 + delegates, there was plenty of opportunity for the usual networking and socialising.
     For ULD CARE this was an excellent opportunity to not only hold a gathering of our own community but also to reach a wider audience with updates of our various initiatives. And we had no shortage of achievements to communicate.
First off the pole was our digitalization program, which is showing remarkable success, it hardly needs repeating that ULD are too important to the day-to-day air cargo operations to be allowed to languish in a legacy world of paper and pencil recording of transfers and stock takes and keyboard and EDI messaging, our message to the industry is loud and clear, it is for everybody’s benefit to apply digitalization to all aspects of ULD operations, and ULD CARE is determined to play its role in this regard.
     At this event we were proud to show off the current status of our re-vitalised 50-year-old IULDUG system, now also able to handle the extensive intermodal transfers of ULD’s as they move off airport into forwarders and shippers, using Smart Phone App’s and API’s, there is no good reason why the management of ULD should be confined to a world of pencil and paper while other industries move to all digital solutions.
     Another feature on display from ULD CARE was a just released RFID pallet tag. Readers with long memories may remember that this has been a discussion for many many years without any significant progress of any kind but once again technology has come to the rescue, mainly due to advanced chip design and we now have an RFID enabled pallet tag that can be read it up to 1 metre by a simple handheld reader. And the good news is that this device is just 2 mm thick meaning that it can be attached to a pallet edge rail with very low risk of damage and also comes at a cost in single digit dollars per pallet.
     This breakthrough not only impacts the management of ULD stock control and stock transfers but also opens opportunities for digital recording the position of a pallet once loaded into the aircraft eliminating the safety risk of incorrect load positioning.

     But the ULD CARE message is not just about digitalisation, we also have a very strong focus on sustainability, and for the past 12 months a working group comprising of airlines and suppliers have been working on a project to create a ULD Sustainability Metric, taking into account the many different sustainability aspects of a ULD and combining these factors into a sustainability rating on the same lines as the energy level rating sticker found on most if not all household appliances these days. Sustainability has to be on everyone’s minds and ULD CARE believes it can make a significant contribution.
     And last but not least is the question of knowledge and learning opportunities and availability which the armies of staff whose jobs on the ramp, in the warehouse and even miles away from the airport at a cargo freight forwarder need in order to do their jobs properly. It is no secret that the high turnover in these working environments is creating a major challenge and ULD CARE remains committed to some heavy lifting in this area. At this year’s event we were delighted to be able to showcase two new ULD 60 Second video’s, both focussed on the aircraft loading sector and developed with input from Airbus.
     The first focuses on the need for a final shipside check before the ULD is loaded into the aircraft and the second focuses on the importance of carrying out ULD operations inside the cargo hold with extreme care. These videos can be seen, click here. click here.
Bob Rogers