Airports of most sizes can benefit from implementing an Independent Carrier System (ICS). Unfortunately, small to medium airports often miss out on the multifaceted optimisation this technology provides for baggage handling. In this article, you can learn why an ICS is also a great solution for small and medium airports.
Since the first emergence of baggage handling technology in the middle of the 1970s, the concept of independent carrier-based systems (ICS) has steadily transformed baggage handling in the airport industry.
During the past 20-25 years, the industry has seen a paradigm shift in baggage handling systems from conventional conveyor belt solutions to ICS.
As a result, a growing number of airports have seen the benefits of ICS technology: high speed sortation and transportation, cost-efficiency, and low maintenance are some of the prominent features of the ICS. The technology has also proven to be superior for track and trace, security screening, load sharing, and many more key disciplines of modern baggage handling.
Despite this growing impact, there are still some stones left unturned from an ICS perspective. A major one is that many small to medium-sized airports operate under the assumption that the technology is not an option for them, because it is too expensive or complicated to implement for a smaller baggage handling operation. Thankfully, that is not the complete picture.
In this article, you can learn why the ICS can be a great solution for small to medium-sized airports, and which ICS the airports of this size should choose.
There are many reasons why airports should look at an ICS as a solution. These reasons apply to all airports: small, medium-sized and large.
First of all, modern ICS technology is faster than traditional conveyor solutions. Studies find that an ICS can provide bag transportation more than 500 percent faster than a conventional conveyor belt system.
In terms of operations and maintenance (O&M), ICS can provide significant cost savings. Calculations show that replacing a conventional conveyor belt solution with an ICS can reduce costs associated with operations staff by 68 percent and costs associated with the maintenance staff can be reduced by 33 percent. The expenditure for spare parts can also be brought down significantly, with reductions of 43 percent.
Then there is the fact that ICS technology offers an extremely high level of tracking and traceability. Tote and cart-based baggage handling systems can deliver 100% track and trace, meaning that as soon as a bag is placed in a tote or cart after check-in, all the information in the IATA barcode is connected to the individual carrier, and the tote or cart can be easily tracked throughout the system.
Modern ICS technologies also help airports achieve their environmental targets, as they have been found to save up to 60 percent in energy consumption compared to traditional conveyor solutions. The ICS doesn’t need to activate the entire system every time a handful of bags are transported – instead, whenever the system is not needed, it is switched off via intelligent power management.
The ideal ICS for small to medium-sized airports is the cart-based solution. This system is perfectly suited for airports that require a baggage handling capacity up to 4,800 bags/h.
The cart-based ICS is modular in design, consisting of a cart with wheels and a belt on top. The belt is available in different sizes so the system can transport normal, odd-shaped, and oversized baggage on the same track. As a result, airports do not need a separate system for oversized baggage or to place extra manual handling pressure on staff.
The cart-based ICS integrates in a belt-to-belt transition at different locations such as check-in, screening, transfer, arrival, and destinations making it ideal for integration with conventional conveyor-based baggage handling processes.
The system runs as “one bag per cart” and the individual carts are only active when needed – the rest are parked. Direct contactless communication to each cart means very quick system reaction times, for example when a bag needs re-routing during transport.
The system’s intelligence is located exclusively in the carts, creating a variety of maintenance-related advantages for small to medium-sized airports. For example, the rail system of the cart-based ICS is very basic with no motors, sensors, or any other moving parts, and therefore virtually maintenance free.
When a cart needs to be inspected or repaired, the system will retract it to a small dedicated maintenance bay – essentially a small corner of the baggage room – while the baggage handling system remains in full operation. This provides an obvious advantage over conventional belt systems where a single issue requires a walk through the whole system and a full system stop before any maintenance can take place – and a higher cost comes with it.
A key feature of modern baggage handling is the ability to expand capacity without having to revamp the entire BHS. This is very much ideal for small to medium-sized airports that need to approach new investments with a combination of caution and flexibility.
The cart-based ICS is perfect in this regard.
The rail elements of the cart-based ICS are the smallest in the industry, which caters to the need for a lot of functionality on a small footprint. Unlike conventional belt systems that require a redesigned layout to take additional capacity, the cart-based ICS can increase its handling capacity by simply adding the number of extra carts needed. Once the system’s software has been updated with the identity of the extra carts, the system is more or less good to go. No expansion or mechanical redesign of the system is needed to expand.
While the investment in modern ICS can seem like a hindrance for small to medium-sized airports, in most cases the OPEX and overall cost of ownership gives the ICS a price advantage compared to conventional conveyor solutions.
The low maintenance requirements mean significantly less expenditure on staff and spare parts. When considering energy savings, the cart-based ICS solution also has an additional OPEX-related cost advantage. In addition, the control system in each cart offers comprehensive monitoring and data collection. This enables cost-effective predictive and condition-based maintenance, instead of the relatively expensive and downtime-enhancing scheduled maintenance typically associated with a conventional BHS.
The actual price comparison between ICS and a conventional system will always depend on the specifics, but the advantages are so impressive that small and medium-sized airports should not hold back looking into how an ICS could improve their baggage handling operation.
Modern system providers can offer the airport operator an accurate calculation TCO as part of the business case.
ICS is an incredibly efficient baggage handling technology for airports of all sizes. This includes small to medium-sized airports, and in particular the cart-based ICS is an ideal solution for those looking for a baggage handling capacity of up to 4,800 bags/h.
The cart-based ICS offers high speed baggage sortation and transportation with operational cost-efficiency and low maintenance requirements. In addition, other prominent features include track and trace, security screening, load sharing, and many more processes within modern baggage handling that most small to medium sized airports could only dream of.
While the investment in ICS may seem expensive at first glance, the full picture, including the OPEX and overall cost of ownership, places the ICS with an advantage over conventional conveyor solutions in most cases.
