“[Technology] is trying to answer the same question, ‘Where’s my stuff?’
In a rousing introduction to the ULD track sessions, ACL Airshop chief Steve Townes boiled the latest developments in the industry down to this simple statement. He also added, “I don’t mean where’s my pallet? I mean what’s on my pallet and why can’t I find it? And who has it?” The industry has come far, Townes said, but still has a lot of work ahead. “Keeping up with people, technology, money, facilities and so forth, is not an easy task,” he said. “But all of us in this room have the task of keeping up with that, and in fact getting ahead of it.” So where’s it all going? “I can tell you this: It’s going faster,” Townes said. “Just when you thought it was normal, everything is more chaotic with fast growth. Fast-growth markets always separate winners from losers.”
Later, Townes gave a “fearless forecast” that, in 48 months or less, ACL “will have 65,000 to 70,000 ULDs in our fleet and will be located at 75 airports.” The company will add six new service hubs in 2018, he added, plus three repair stations in Bogota, Hong Kong and Liège.