Dubai express centre cuts acceptance times by half

LEONARD NEILL DUBAI AIR Cargo Village’s recently-opened Express Centre has cut acceptance and delivery times by half, says Emirates South African cargo manager Kum Naicker. Unaccompanied courier bags (UCBs) and express packages under air waybill are now accepted 60 minutes before departure against the previous 120 minutes. Delivery times are now 45 minutes after arrival against the previous 60 and 120 minutes respectively, he says. The 4 000m2 centre is the first of its kind in the Middle East and one of the few express centres in the world that is purpose-built. Located between the main cargo terminal and the Emirates SkyCargo Centre, it was set up by the Department of Civil Aviation and is operated by Dnata Cargo. The heart of the centre is the latest bi-directional conveyor system. A state-of-the-art screening system scans every shipment for identification, weight and size while it’s moving along the conveyor, thus providing automatic check-in of express bags. In addition, sophisticated hand-held terminals (HHTs) scan barcodes, enabling real-time exchange of information with CAMSYS, a system specially developed for the new centre by Mercator, the Emirates Group’s IT division, to handle the information flow related to express shipments under baggage tag or cargo air waybill.