Gatwick Airport awards BHS contract to Beumer/Crisplant
23 August 2013
BEUMER Group U.K. Limited and Crisplant have been awarded a contract to integrate the new baggage handling system within London Gatwick Airport’s GBP 183.9 million redevelopment of the South Terminal Pier 1. BEUMER will work through main contractors, Vinci Construction U.K., to deliver a new baggage handling system by installing a conveyor-based pre-sortation area, two tilt tray sorters, and the U.K.’s first installation of a Crisplant CrisBag® early-baggage storage (EBS) system. BEUMER Group U.K. will integrate the CrisBag® EBS, in addition to systems and equipment from third-party manufacturers. The new baggage handling system will enable Gatwick to introduce features such as ‘day before’ check-in and batch building. It will also enable passengers in the South Terminal to check-in at any of the nine check-in zones and have their baggage automatically sorted to the appropriate destination. The CrisBag Early Bag Store (EBS) system will provide more than 2500 storage positions and also provide Gatwick Airport with 100% track-and-trace of all baggage using RFID tags and conventional tracking within the EBS. CrisBag’s simple ‘one bag per tote and one tote per section’ configuration enables the identity and position of each item of baggage to be tracked at all times to virtually eliminate lost baggage within the EBS system. With lower energy consumption and life-cycle costs, compared to stacker cranes or belt conveyor systems, the CrisBag EBS is designed to combine reduced operating costs with increased baggage handling efficiency and flexibility at Gatwick.