CHECK-IN FOR AIRPORT LOGISTICS

Airport Expo Dubai is around the corner. In May 2009, all the players in baggage and cargo handling will converge in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates to rub shoulders with potential clients from around the world. A rise in passenger traffic and baggage volumes, and an ever-increasing need for safety and security (owing to scares associated with terrorist acts), have brought the airport systems designers into the limelight – they have had to shoulder more responsibility, pre-empt the demands of the customers they serve, and update and upgrade continuously.

It may seem to be a small and limited market prima facie, but for the reasons cited above, airports in smaller cities and towns (new ones on the anvil as well as the ones which were less sophisticated till a few years ago) are expanding the “potential clientele” list. Competition and capacity constraints make it necessary for busy airports and airlines to cooperate to reduce aircraft turnaround times and passenger connection times.

And of course, there are always updating and upgrading to be done. Materials handling at airports can essentially be looked upon as baggage handling on the upstream and cargo handling on the downstream. It is not just about moving things, but also inspecting, sorting, weighing, identifying, etc. In effect, it is all about knowing everything about what is being moved.

PROCESSES & PLAYERS
In simple terms, baggage handling entails the movement of bags from the check-in to departure gates, from one gate to another during transfers, and from the arrival gate to the baggage-claim area. In addition to the “movement” function – or rather, while enabling it – a baggage handling system also performs detection of bag jams, volume regulation, load balancing, bag tracking and bag counting.

To accomplish these functions, the products and sub-systems can be classified broadly into three groups: destination-coded vehicles; automatic scanners (X-ray machines); and conveyors equipped with junction and sorting machines. And of course, there are the human-machine interfaces with the necessary software to monitor progress and performance remotely. When it comes to cargo handling, storage facilities for different categories of cargo – cold storages for perishable commodities for instance, is also a part of air cargo handling systems.

For global players with a widespread clientele, several big names come to mind: Siemens and ICM Airport Technics from Germany; Vanderlande from the Netherlands; FKI Logistex from Denmark; and Pteris Global from Singapore.

ASIA PACIFIC ANGLE
We start off from the Middle East, and move eastward to South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia and Australia, and look at some of the major airport logistics systems projects undertaken by major players.

Western Asia Pteris Global (when it was Inter Roller) has had a key role in the setting up of the baggage/cargo handling systems in many major Asian airports, the Middle East included. It has successfully completed seven baggage handling and five cargo handling projects in the region to date. The cargo handling systems at the BAS Bahrain International Airport and for the Dubai Flower Centre at the Dubai International Airport are courtesy ICM Airport Technics. Siemens Baggage Handling Systems undertook and successfully completed the baggage handling project at Terminal I of the Dubai InternationalAirport five years ago.

South Asia
While ICM Airport Technics overhauled the then-existing the baggage handling systems at theSahar International Airport in Mumbai, India in 1986, expansion ofthe aircraft necessitated the involvementof Pteris Global as well later on.Pteris Global has been active in Indiaover the years, equipping the airportsin Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur,Udaipur, Pune, Srinagar, Calicut andNagpur with baggage handlingsystems, and setting up air cargohandling systems for Chennai AirCargo.

Moving southward, the government of Sri Lanka got its air cargo handling systems from Inter Roller, which also set up the baggage handling system at the Male International Airport (Maldives). The international airports at Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai also benefited from the expertise of Siemens very recently when refurbishments were undertaken at these airports post-privatisation.

Southeast Asia
Pteris Global has dominated the Southeast Asian market from its base in Singapore. Seven major airports in Indonesia, five in Malaysia, two in Vietnam, two in Thailand (including the New Bangkok Suvarnabhoomi Airport), airports in Manila and Yangon, and four terminals at the Changi Airport.

East Asia
The Chinese aviation sector has burgeoned in recent years and it follows that this has necessitated the expansion of or the introduction of baggage and cargo handling systems in the numerous small and major airports in the country. The pie has been (and still is) quite big and one may safely assume that there has been enough in China for all the major players. Between 1992 and 2003, ICM bagged three projects – two in Taiwan and one in Hong Kong. Inter Roller has, till date, completed 14 baggage handling projects in China.

Siemens Baggage Handling Systems completed a mega-baggage-handling project at the Beijing International Airport recently. The system is capable of handling over 19000 bags per hour, cost about 170 million euros, and took three years to move from concept to commissioning. In 2008, Wuhan decided to go with Siemens in order to get the latest technology of RFID. It is the first airport in Asia operating with RFID only and is achieving an identifi cation rate close to 100 percent, Siemens tells Logistics Insight Asia.

Australia
Along with Inter Roller and ICM Airport Technics, Vanderlande has also been able to bag projects in Australia in the past. ICM refurbished and expanded the domestic terminal at Perth in 2009 and installed a new checked baggage screening system at the Sydney airport in 2006. In 2007, Siemens chipped in as well. The Brisbane International Airport on the other hand, preferred Inter Roller for the setting up of its baggage handling systems. Vanderlande found favour with the Sydney Airport authorities when it came to designing and setting up the baggage carousel and sorting systems.

----------------------------------------------------

‘ONE THIRD OF OURREVENUE IS IN ASIA’

Siemens Baggage Handling Systems has made its presence felt at several airports around the world. KLAUS SCHAEFER, vice president, Airport Sales, at the Infrastructure LogisticsDivision of Siemens, talks to LIA .

Q: As a percentage of total [ Klaus Schaefer, Siemens. ] revenue of the company’s baggage handling systems division, how much does the Asia-Pacific market account for?

A: About one third of our revenue is in Asia. This percentage could of course vary based on when we take up large-scale projects.

Q: Could you name some current projects?

A: There are several projects on the anvil in Asia Pacific: Sydney, Incheon (Phase III), Beijing, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah and Bangkok.

Q: What criteria are considered by the customer in selecting a baggage handling supplier?

A: In our business, there are many different influences on the decision customers make. The primary one seems to be the project costs which the customer has to bear. In addition of course, it helps for companies in our business to be reliable with a proven track record in our fields of expertise. Last, but not the least by any means, is the competence to design the most economic baggage handling systems and to execute these systems to meet the requirements of the clients.

In years to come, with environmental awareness rising very fast, the ability to incorporate eco-friendlier, “greener” concepts could also become one of the chief criterion for decision-making on the part of the clients. (Note: Energy consumption during baggage handling for instance is one key parameter to be taken into account)

Q: What impact have increased airport security requirements had on your business?

A: With the decision to install 100 percent Hold Baggage Screening (HBS), there was a sudden rise in orders from airport authorities to retrofit existing systems. It also became mandatory to incorporate HBS in the design and installation of new baggage handling systems. Our experience in the markets of the West stood us in good stead when we had to take over projects in Asia.

----------------------------------------------------