Loose freight goes 'live' into Ascentis (15/11/2000)

British Airways World Cargo has commenced the transfer of loose shipments into Ascentis, its new cargo centre at Heathrow Airport, with all Pacific loose freight collections and deliveries now being processed in the building.

Following the successful migration of unit load collections and deliveries into the facility, the airline began to pilot loose cargo handling in Ascentis in October to test equipment, systems and procedures in the 800,000 tonnes capacity centre. The trial featured shipments travelling on World Cargo's Tokyo, Sydney and Hong Kong services.

The transfer of all Pacific loose collections and deliveries means 15% of the airline's total loose traffic is now being handled in the new centre.

In total, including intact and loose freight, Ascentis is now processing more than 75 per cent of British Airways World Cargo's throughput at Heathrow.In total, including intact and loose freight, Ascentis is now processing more than 75 per cent of British Airways World Cargo's throughput at Heathrow.

Keith Dickerson, Project Director, Ascentis, said: "Our objective is to achieve a successful transfer of Pacific loose traffic and then steadily ramp up loose volume in the building. The next step will be to move in all London Heathrow terminating shipments and the final stage will see loose transhipment business processed through Ascentis.

We are keen to complete the whole loose transfer as quickly as possible but will ensure each stage is properly bedded down to the required standard before we move to the next phase. This is now a proven way of handling a complex freight move having worked successfully for the transfer of intact cargo into Ascentis."

The dates for future stages of the loose move will be communicated to customers shortly.

Since Ascentis handled its first intact unit last year, the £250 million centre has handled more than 160,000 units.

In October 2000, the building's presentation standard - systems and equipment reliability - was measured at 98.5 per cent while the average for total customer engagement times was 60-65 minutes against a target of 90 minutes.

Total engagement is measured from the time a customers' vehicle arrives at the Ascentis gatepost, parks, completes the necessary documentation process and delivers or collects freight, through to when it leaves the site.

Flown-as-planned performance for London originating intact units in October 2000 was 99.9 per cent. Flown-as-planned performance for transhipment units was 96 per cent.

Gareth Kirkwood, Managing Director of British Airways World Cargo, said: "The performance of Ascentis for intact cargo represents a significant improvement in our service levels at Heathrow. However, we recognise that to fully regain the confidence of global customers we have to match the same high level of performance for loose shipments.

Loose cargo handling at Heathrow has been our weak link for many years. We were given the investment to build a new cargo infrastructure to change this position and that's what we intend to do."