ULD manager Jettainer and developer DoKaSch have inked an agreement for closer cooperation. Their mutual aim is to improve the processes of repairing damaged unit load devices.
The costs are stunning! Up to $330 million are spent on ULD repairs worldwide each year. Even more staggering is the fact that 80 percent are avoidable damages. “That’s an awful big chunk of
money,” reasons David Ambridge, Director Cargo Operations of handling agent Worldwide Flight Services – WFS.
New tool to identify the source of ULD damages
It makes it even more necessary to provide the industry with efficient repair services that are fast and precise. So it is intended by Jettainer and DoKaSch that teamed up to realize this aim.
Their indispensable helper will be a sophisticated IT tool, offering both parties accurate data on damaged units at Jettainer’s mandate airlines that need to be taken off operation to be set in
shape again. Due to improved data quality, it will also enable the partners to identify the different sources of damage. An important innovation. This way, impairments or even maltreatments of
ULD, if they should happen continuously at certain stations served by airlines using Jettainer equipment, can be easily identified and countermeasures be taken.
“We consider ourselves being experts in managing the flow of ULDs but we are not professionals in repairing them should they get damaged, that’s why we need partners like ULD developer and
producer DoKaSch,” stated Jettainer’s head of sales, Thorsten Riekert while the agreement was signed at the Berlin-held WCS.
Lightweights are more resistant
Marcus Franke of DoKaSch added to this that the new generation of lightweight containers are less vulnerable in comparison to standard aluminum boxes. “Their panels are more flexible so they
absorb impacts to a certain extent that happen in warehouses or during their loading and unloading at airports.”
In addition to DoKaSch, Jettainer cooperates with repair specialists in a number of stations, like Abu Dhabi, Munich or Frankfurt. This way, they can serve client airlines such as Etihad,
Lufthansa Cargo and others at their main gateways much faster, enabling the repair of damaged units on the spot.
DoKaSch introduces “ReLeaseMe”
DoKaSch manager Franke took the Berlin opportunity to announce a new product launched by his firm, named: ReLeaseMe. It gives carriers the choice of leasing ULD’s for a certain monthly amount.
Main part of the package are repair services should a unit get damaged in daily ops. “Our new product is an alternative offer for freight airlines and ULD managing companies like Jettainer for
buying ULDs or renting them, but paying repair costs by themselves in case of damages.”
Self-thinking IT tool
At the same event, Jettainer’s Managing Director Carsten Hernig announced that live tests of a new software to better manage ULD flows and processes have begun together with six airline
customers. According to Carsten, the program that was developed in close partnership with IT experts of the University of Cologne is a self-thinking system. It permanently analyses the current
location of each single ULD and suggest controllers in case of overflows of ULDs at a given station served by the airline how to best reduce the surplus. States Hernig: “Our customer airlines now
have a system at their side, which offers live assistance in making decisions, for instance, by searching for alternatives routes and scheduling scenarios within a few seconds.”
He stresses, however, that the controllers in charge always make the final decision.
Heiner Siegmund
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