• Tweet
• 

Through day and night, various cargo is transported by aircraft on a global scale. In regard to these transports, special skills are required for certain cargo.

The "Shock Watch" enables it to detect certain shocks impacting the cargo by the change of its capsule's color located in the center. It is used for the purpose of monitoring the transport environment and to enhance awareness of the staff handling the cargo.

For instance, these commodities are medical supplies such as COVID-19　vaccines, or zoo animals and racing horses, as well as semiconductors or electronic devices requiring special handling.
The temperature change or slight shock possibly to occur in the warehouse or the aircraft cargo compartment may cause the product's deterioration or damage, while for the animals, just a small environmental change may lead to a worst case. ANA Cargo, focusing on the entire shipments, including those needing special transport skill or care, appropriate safety management is thoroughly applied and stable quality to the valued customers provided.

In recent years, when comparing 2022 to 2019, the requirements of air transport such as the semiconductor・electronic devices, production facilities, and pharmaceuticals increased by +42%, +66%, +160%, respectively. Due to the marine transport taking quite a few days for the delivery, the shorter air transport time is one of the reasons for the needs' increment.

To flexibly cope with the requirements by each category of the products to be transported, ANA Cargo established a "Professional Unit" on July 1, 2023, organized by the special selected members with high transport skills among more than 100 staff.

In October 2023, the transport project of the artificial satellite weighing approximately 5 tons in total was achieved.
Let's check out the background of this Professional Unit's establishment, and the ANA Cargo's advantages. Also, let's unravel how the artificial satellite's transport proceeded in October 2023.

Unprecedented artificial satellite transport project. The difficult transport was accomplished based on the accumulated knowledge & combination.

As mentioned in the beginning, the transport project of the artificial satellite manufactured by Astroscale, tackling to eliminate the threat of the space orbit congestion and debris, was not an ordinary case but extremely difficult. The Astroscale manufactured artificial satellite, "ADRAS-J (Active Debris Removal by Astroscale - Japan)", was transported to New Zealand, where the satellite was to be launched, in cooperation with Yusen Logistics Co., Ltd.
This transport project was also not at all an ordinary one.
The unprecedented transport for ANA Cargo was performed in October 2023. How could this transport be overcome? There were 2 members' contributions of the Professional Unit.

Transport of Astroscale manufactured artificial satellite to New Zealand

Keigo Chida, 9th year staff of Cargo Services International Section 3 in charge of documentation duty, and Yoshihiro Shinotsuka of Section 6 assigned for the warehouse handling, transferred to ANA Cargo after 28 years' experience of cargo loading on the freighter or the ramp handling. It can be said that the combination of the two, young and veteran, was one of the reasons for the successful transport.

There were various difficulties behind the success. For ANA Cargo, such artificial satellite transport was an unprecedented case, and the shipment itself was made of extremely sensitive parts. In addition, when including the other related cargo, the total weight of the large commodity became more than 5 tons. It was not at all an easy one.

Since this was the first time for the Astroscale to use ANA Cargo, close communication was carefully held every time during the pre-meetings. Not only accompanying the sales, but also by exchanging opinions once a week, each of the customer's concerns was eradicated, while detailed verifications such as demonstrating loading and unloading at the Narita airport were repeatedly conducted.

Chida; "For cargo transport, it is not only to carry the shipment but the most important point is to build trust between the customer so that they can reliably entrust the transport to us. Based on this concept, the Unit discussed the most optimal method to improve the accuracy of the transport."

*Irregular incidents, such as damaging the other cargo (commodity) by getting it wet caused by the liquid leakage of an impacted cargo (commodity).

And the day of departure at Narita came.

In the warehouse where the cargo build-up is conducted, to prevent the direct sunlight, and the deterioration or temperature rise by the ultraviolet rays, and wet damages*, vinyl sheets are used to cover the top and bottom to shut out gaps where water can enter. Preparations were also made by carefully selecting the most suitable material to absorb any vibrations.

Shinotsuka; "Since I, myself, had experience of satellite transport in the past, from the preparations, I was able to tackle the project calmly. On the day of the event, due to the shipment already packaged by the customer, we didn't use any cushioning materials, but just continued to do the necessary things to be well prepared for the unexpected situations.

Yoshihiro Shinotsuka, Cargo Services International Section 6 - In charge of warehouse handling duty

Sensitive and super heavy artificial satellite. When loading cargo, the weight & balance is also important (for the total weight of the loaded goods & the aircraft's balance to be managed within the specified range for the aircraft to safely operate). If the weight is concentrated on one point, the aircraft will be unstable, and if the cargo falls down, not only itself but also may cause significant damage to the aircraft.

Therefore, close teamwork or coordination between the staff in charge of the documentation work who prepares the load plan and the warehouse handling staff in charge of the build-up is essential. Based on the know-how acquired over many years, the combination of Chida & Shinotsuka successfully achieved the optimal weight distribution by reconfirming with each other accordingly. Owing to their efforts, the cargo safely arrived at the New Zealand - Auckland International Airport without even a scratch. Both of them working on the very same day at the airport for the handling were deeply moved to see their accomplishment.

Chida; "On the departure day, I was responsible for facilitating smooth communication among all concerned, so the time just flew at a dizzying pace. Though I was nervous, upon close cooperation with Mr. Shinotsuka, it was quite impressive to see the cargo being safely delivered. My hometown is Tanegashima, Kagoshima, where the launching site of the space shuttle is located, so that I felt a kind of strange connection with this time's transport of the artificial satellite. Due to this project being achieved by the entire ANA Group, it surely was an experience to even strengthen the bonds.

Shinotsuka; "Being in charge of the handling, I paid the closest attention with full care when transferring the cargo. To gain 100% of the customer's reliability, I was very cautious such as making the decision at the site to replace the forklift with another one. Hence, it was very impressive to be directly thanked by the customer, face to face, after the transport & unloading was safely completed. Usually, you don't really know what is happening after the cargo is delivered, but thanks to this mission, I could see the customer's happy faces."

Scene before departure at Narita International Airport

"Delivering" 100% of reliability. To support conveying "Japan Quality" to the world.

• Tweet
•