Company Visit – Hactl
We took
a visit to Hactl on 13th March 2015, Hactl have presented their
company background, daily operation and the automation service.
Background of Hactl
Hong Kong Air Cargo
Terminals Limited (Hactl) is founded in 1976, providing the import, export and transshipment
service for air cargo. It is one of the most famous air cargo terminals in Hong
Kong, and it owns the world largest multi-level air cargo terminal –
SuperTerminal1.
Hactl mainly focuses
on mainland business, and some customers from Middle East and England such as
Emirates and British Airline. Most of the flights arrive to Hactl at night, so
Hactl need to process the cargo at all time.
Operation of Hactl
Hactl has a motor intermodal
service called Hacis which allows them to deliver the product to mainland
quickly. One of the special features of Hacis is that they can provide non-stop
border pass, as they have registered intermodal Transshipment Facilitation
Scheme (ITFS) and Quick Pass Mode (QP). This helps Hactl gaining competitive
advantage towards mainland market.
They also owned special
automation services one called box storage system (BSS), which they can do the box
storage automatically with less labor and low risk. Another service called Cargo
storage system (CSS), it allows the cargo to do the loading nearby the airside.
Hactl also provides
some special service such as livestock storage or dangerous good storage.
Additional Service of Hactl
Hactl aims to provide high quality service to their customer. They have
a high standard against the cargo service. Sometimes customers will require
some value-added service, Hactl will put a lot of effort to fulfill the
requirement. Moreover, Hactl provides mobile apps -- Cosac Plus for customers
to track the products, customers can easily find out the current status of
their product.
Q&A Section
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
One of your service you
provided indicated that “The first 48 Hours (from 0000 hours on the day of
arrival & the Sunday and Public Holiday within the storage-free period)”,
will there be large demand for such service?
How do you match the supply and demand if the service is free?
Ans: By
providing 48 hours free storage, it will be an effective method to attract
customers. As Cathay Pacific quit Hactl’s service and became a competitor, Hactl
will need to use different strategy to attract new customers, also compete with
this new competitor. Offering price incentives is one of the most effective
method.
As Hactl
now facing fierce price competition, the demand should be in a controlled range
or otherwise the need of free storage strategy is less needed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
How does the development of
HACIS (Hong Kong Air Cargo Industry Services Limited) help facilitating the
shipping processes of Hactl?
Ans: HACIS
could be referred as an intermodal of HACTL. By using motor carriers, Hactl can
deliver the products to Mainland quickly. The location of the HACIS terminal is
nearby the HACTL express center, so this will shorten the cargo processing time
and reduce idle time. Hacis’s trucks are registered with Intermodal Transshipment Facilitation Scheme
(ITFS) and Quick Pass Mode (QP), which allows them to pass the border non-stop. For HACIS’ operation, they will
start loading at 11:00, all the motors which need to deliver products to
mainland will leave the terminal before 7:00. The timing is strictly
controlled.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
How will you response to the
increasing demand caused by the third runway?
Ans: To Hactl,
the impact of the third runway is positive. If the runway can operate
efficiently, the capacity of the airport will increase, which means that the
airport is able to accept more cargos or flight.
Increase
in cargo capacity implies that there are more demand for cargo service, this
will increase demand of Hactl and reduce idle capacity caused by Cathay’s
competition. The supply will meet the demand more smoothly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
Since the demand on air cargo
has recently been increasing, how do Hactl deal with this problem and ensure
your service quality?
Ans: Hactl
has a tight standard for its quality control, they set a high target for the
cargo service and other related service. For example, the requirement of flight
unloading is to unload it within 5 hours and the target is 96%. Hactl is able
to fulfill 98.3-4% of it. The automation service also helps Hactl to eliminate
most of the possible mistakes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.
It was mentioned on your site that the latest Hactl drill demonstrated
that systems could be fully resumed in a maximum of four hours should there be
a system failure, has there ever been such failures in the past when such
precautions were not in place? How did it affect your operations?
Ans: When the system is down, there will be backup computer facilities to restore all systems, and data will soon be replicated and saved. It can ensure that there is no data lost and the system will work as usual.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.
Listed under 'Special Cargo Handling Facilities' is a livestock room at
Hactl, what exactly does this entail and how do you handle it when there is
outbreak of influenza virus?
Ans: The
livestock room indicates that when some live animal such as horses or pets
leave/come to Hong Kong, they will be placed to the livestock room and let them
take inspection and rest.
As
livestock need some special care or value-add service, Hactl provide
air-conditioner for livestock, and sometimes when customers have special
requirements, Hactl will cooperate with them and provide service. For example,
if vets found that the polar bear is under great pressure, Hactl and customer will
try to find a solution to make the bear relax in order to allow the bear to
enter to cargo. So, Hactl will need to create a pool for them to relax within
1-2 hours.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.
In the age of globalization, will you consider to expand your business
overseas?
Ans: Hactl
has a large variety of customers, although it mainly focuses in mainland
business, but Hactl also have some oversea customer such as Emirates Airline. Emirates’
flights are mostly from Middle East and Europe.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.
How do you make use of the automation to improve your efficiency?
Ans: One of
the important part in Hactl is the Box Storage System (BSS) and Cargo Storage System (CSS), it is fully automated
with 10000 storage capacity. The import, export and transshipment cargo will be
processed by CSS and box storage by BSS. CSS and BSS can reduce labor
requirement, avoid staff from dangerous work and it is under strict security
control.
To
improve efficiency for every stakeholder in cargo transportation, Hactl also
provide some system, one is the Cosac Plus; it contains all information of
customers, and it will be easy for customer to do tracking. Hactl also owned a
mobile app called Cosac Mobile, which allow some stakeholder such as motor
driver or customer to check the timing of loading or unloading.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.
What have you done in the environmental protection aspect?
Ans: Same as
many other companies, Hactl do many recycling work. Wasted paper, CD, aluminum
cans, batteries are the objects they would recycle. One special item that can
be recycled in Hactl is the plastic tapes, as they required many tapes for
packing process, these tapes can also be recycled. Moreover, Hactl owned a
rooftop garden, they have some planting there for environmental purpose. For
daily operations, the forklifts using in airport are all electric cars, it can
reduce use of petroleum.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.
How Hactl apply information technology in company operation in order to
enhance its competitive advantages?
Ans: Same as
Q8, the CSS and BSS will help Hactl to reduce excessive labor and reduce cost.
Cosac Plus and Cosac Mobile will help Hactl and customers to track their
shipments easily. These are unique systems that will help Hactl to gain
competitive advantages.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
沒有留言:
張貼留言