Advancing the Management of ULDs in Air Cargo Transport

As you can imagine, the failure to locate and manage ULDs effectively can result in significant financial losses, as well as declines in profitability, on-time performance, employee productivity, passenger satisfaction, and equipment and workforce allocation. Unfortunately, manual or outdated processes simply don’t suffice. What is needed today are advanced tracking technologies that can deliver critical information such as the exact location of a ULD or dolly and their status (i.e., loaded or unloaded, in good condition or damaged).

A Growing Market for Tracking Solutions

Considering the challenges, it is easy to understand why technologies addressing this problem represent a growing market. A report by K. Berg Insight stated that cargo loading unit tracking devices had reached over 11 million worldwide with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.4% and projected growth to reach 33.1 million by 2026. Airport infrastructure projects, passenger demand, and sustainability goals are all factors driving airlines, airports, and ground handlers to deploy advanced technologies for the optimization of their ULD management and tracking.

For cargo handlers, the goals are simple:

• Having the ability to quickly identify the location of equipment to avoid losses in productivity by employees scattering about trying to find a dolly or learn its status.
• Avoiding unnecessary empty runs.
• Minimizing the purchase of additional dollies, containers and ULDs when they might not be needed, and avoiding maintenance on this equipment before necessary.

Delivering Essential Data and Visibility

By applying Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven optimization software with telematics, these goals can be achieved. Together, they can provide the fast identification of ground handling equipment which,?in turn, can enable real-time allocation and assignment of dollies, containers, and ULDs. Leveraging telematics with process-driven data eradicates blind spots on the apron and gives ground handlers full visibility and improved operational awareness relating to their equipment.

The AI/telematic solution’s role in the management and tracking of ground handling equipment is to deliver – in real-time – specific location and status information such as whether a ULD is ready for pick-up, which dock it was delivered to, its loading time if it has been loaded to a dolly, the dolly’s and ULD’s parking spot on the apron).

Optimization software assists in determining the best allocation and assignment of equipment to the correct loading or unloading task. It provides a full view of the process relating to the ULD’s position and designated destination location. Ground handlers are able to access real-time, relevant information for each ULD. Telematics’ role is to identify a dolly’s status, inclusive of its location and loaded or unloaded status. Ground handlers can use this information to facilitate faster, more efficient feeding of dollies into the loading process. Knowing how many dollies are usually empty in parking positions also helps ground handlers determine their optimum fleet size for improved resource management and cost containment.

Capturing Other Critical Data

These technologies also serve to optimize other processes through the capture of valuable data such as a dolly’s?maintenance history. This enables ground handlers to avoid relying on predetermined schedules that don’t take into account whether maintenance is actually needed, which inadvertently incurs unnecessary labor and material costs. By relying on the technology’s data, the best decisions can be made which support productivity, safe operations, and fiscal objectives. The solution’s data capture role is also integral to effective disruption management, including improved dispatching of equipment when a contingency arises. There is also the added benefit of supporting Service Level Agreements (SLAs) by enabling the ability to pivot and respond to disruptions when necessary.

Keeping It Moving

Today more than ever, it is important that airlines, airports, and ground handlers take advantage of advanced technologies that enable them to optimize their processes for improved overall?performance. Any lapse in a ground handling process will have a decided ripple effect causing negative impacts across all areas of operations – from resource management and on-time performance to staff?productivity, the passenger experience, and financial performance. Leading-edge, AI-powered optimization software, and advanced telematics can positively affect all of these areas, while also enabling improved decision-making and disruption management.

>> What are the challenges that you encounter when managing your ULDs to transport cargo? Let us know in the comments section.