Airport baggage handling can be optimised significantly by implementing a modern Independent Carrier System (ICS). The advantages of tote-based ICS are fairly well known, but the cart-based ICS, which is particularly well-suited for smaller and medium-sized airports, remains something of a hidden gem. Learn more about the cart-based ICS platform in this article.
In today’s airport industry, the full potential of baggage handling optimisation is closely linked to the selected type of system technology.
The emergence of Independent Carrier Systems (ICS) is one of the technological developments that has left a significant mark on baggage handling improvements in modern airport operations.
For baggage handling, the ICS offers several advantages compared to more conventional conveyor solutions: high speed sortation and transportation of luggage, cost-efficiency, and low maintenance requirements are some of the key features. Airports have also found that the ICS is a superior solution for complete track and trace, security screening, load sharing, and many other baggage handling processes.
ICS technology is not new to the airport industry. Still, some confusion remains as to what an ICS is, and exactly where and when it should be applied. For example: is it only large airports that can afford to implement an ICS? The answer to this question is ‘no’: the cart-based ICS is a less known, but still cost-effective ICS solution for low and medium baggage handling capacities.
In this article, you can learn more about the lesser known platform, the cart-based ICS, as well as considering what are its strengths, and which types of airports can adopt the cart-based technology most effectively?
In a cart system, just like with any ICS, each cart carries a single piece of luggage. The system consists of an intelligent cart with wheels and a belt carrier on top that runs in a passive rail system.
The cart travels on the rail like a rollercoaster, with a speed of up to 10 m/s and brief stops to load and unload. Carts move independently inside the passive rail and are allocated to the baggage loading and unloading points as necessary depending on the baggage needs.
Airport operations can change from year to year, and a modular BHS should be able to change with the requirements. Small and medium sized airports often find themselves locked by the conventional conveyor setup and with limited space to expand their baggage operations.
A cart-based ICS layout is easily extended with more handling capacity over time simply by adding extra carts, with no need for mechanical changes to the rail system. All that needs to be done is a configuration of the system software to include the identity of the additional carts.
Cart technology is a very cost-attractive option for small-medium sized airports that need a baggage handling capacity of up to 4,800 bags/hour and many loading/unloading positions.
With today’s stringent airport security criteria, baggage security can only be met if the airport can provide 100% track and trace in the BHS. Here, ICS has benefits for medium-sized airports as well. Compared to the conventional conveyor system design often seen at these airports, the cart-based ICS also has the ability to reduce mis-sorts, which means an improvement of the Left Behind Index – also known as short-shipped baggage – which influences internal targets and KPIs for performance values.
Cart-based ICS is made of a completely simple rail with no moving parts, which makes it more or less maintenance free: no sensors, no motors, no moving parts – only the steel rail with a power and data cable. This makes the cart system attractive, especially for longer tunnel connections, because maintenance can be done on the carts during normal operating hours in a service location outside the tunnel.
The cart-based system can also grow at a reasonably low cost when the need for capacity increases, as more carts can simply be added. Additional loading/unloading positions only need software configuration, not “loading/unloading” hardware.
The cart-based ICS is a smart, scalable baggage handling solution with ideal application in small to medium-sized airports. Its modular design, low-maintenance infrastructure, and operational flexibility provide an efficient pathway to enhancing baggage handling performance without the high costs typically associated with complex system upgrades.
For smaller airports seeking to future-proof their operations, improve baggage tracking, and streamline long-distance transport or inter-terminal connections, cart-based ICS represents a smarter, more reliable and cost-effective choice than traditional conveyor solutions.
