Novel way to load airport cargo
THANKS to the newly invented “glide blanket,” Pudong airport deputy manager Cao Guilong and his team have managed to load cargo onto an Air Canada flight in two hours, half the time it normally takes.
More than 700 pieces of cargo, mainly novel coronavirus prevention supplies, were transported onto the Boeing 777300 plane through the “glide blanket” — a soft blanket with wheels.
It has been designed for passenger aircraft that have been shifted to cargo service amid the pandemic.
Cao, deputy manager of the tarmac service center, and his colleagues placed the blanket in the aisles of the aircraft so that cargo could be pushed, rather than having to be lifted. “The blanket has become an essential assistance to serve the increasing number of cargo flights conducted by passenger aircraft at the airport,” said Cao.
It is one of a number of smart inventions on the tarmac at Pudong International Airport to service the increasing number of cargo flights.
Global airlines have been shifting their passenger flight services to cargo to transport COVID-19 prevention supplies amid a sharp fall in global travel.
Pudong airport handles dozens of cargo flights every day at present, an increase of about two flights daily from early March.
Passenger aircraft have the advantage of established crew and schedules, but also pose challenges during loading and unloading cargo, the Shanghai Airport Authority said.
All cargo must be lifted manually, because the mechanical equipment designed for freighters cannot be used for passenger planes. As a result, the airport has tripled its personnel to load or unload the cargo for passenger aircraft.
Pudong airport has more than 100 loaders, but still can hardly meet the demands under traditional methods, Cao said.
Amid the pandemic, the loaders must also wear protective gear such as masks, goggles and hazmat suits which makes work more difficult.
The team served flights from Alitalia and Garuda Indonesia, among the first batch of passenger aircraft with cargo transport tasks, in early March. All the loaders were exhausted at the end of their shift, Cao recalled.
If the loading or unloading had been delayed, the aircraft and foreign crews would have had to wait and their tight schedules would have been affected.
“The loader team then invented the ‘glide blanket,’” he said.
In another move, his colleague Lu Bin, who is in charge of special vehicles at the airport, has worked out an innovative design to further relieve loaders’ work.
Lu combined towable stairways with luggage delivery belts to deliver cargo to the cabin doors of passenger jets. The loaders then deliver the cargo into the cabin with the help of the “glide blanket.”
To unload cargo more easily, the elevator for wheelchairs was used to unload cargo from passenger aircraft.
Many imported materials to make hazmat suits were transported by passenger flights with Aeroflot-Russian Airlines. The fiber materials, 2 meters long and over 10 kilograms each, are delivered onto the wheelchair elevator to be unloaded from the cabin, according to Lu. “The new method has saved half the labor and improved efficiency.”
Despite these innovative ideas, ground service workers still have to work overtime in hazmat suit to finish the heavy tasks. Temperature on the tarmac can reach up to 60 degrees Celsius in hot weather.
More than 200 cargo flights from across the world have taken off and landed at Pudong airport in recent weeks.
More than 10,000 tons of COVID-19 prevention material have been transported through Pudong airport since the outbreak of the pandemic.