|
Bierset by night? A perfectly oiled machine
At night Bierset comes alive, transforming itself into a carefully orchestrated ballet of cargo planes and containers. On the ground, experienced employees are ready to leap into action. Their mission? To unload planes in record time and send goods on their way. Declaration by Thierry Liégeois, Night Operations Coordinator at TNT.
No time for slacking, at night the operations time-frame is limited.
The first planes land at 10:30 PM, the last take off at 5:00 AM. In between, the runways are chock-a-block: 30 to 40 planes come and go each night. Work in the sorting centre is also limited to a window of just 3 hours. “We start at midnight and, 3 hours later, everything is finished: over 7,000 pallets and 40,000 packages (< 30kg) have been loaded into containers, 35,000 parcels have passed through”, says Thierry Liégeois, from TNT. On the road too, night-time activity is intense at TNT: 125 lorries converge at the TNT Euro Hub each night.
Behind the scenes - perfect coordination and a constant presence on the ground
The only thing that keeps chaos at bay is excellent organisation. From the outside, the scene resembles a vast anthill. “In reality, everyone knows what they have to do and is aware of safety and security norms”, he explains. “Being present on the ground is crucial; the coordinator has to be able to manage priorities, plane availability, quality control and so on.” He goes on to add: “And, on the night shift, everyone pulls together.”
“My best memory? The snow storm in 2002. Everyone had to get stuck in and give a hand but what solidarity!”
It seems like yesterday, Thierry remembers: “The wind had been blowing that night, everything was covered in a blanket of white. The airport had to be closed. The next day, we had to find urgent, “on-the-spot” solutions, make up the time we had lost. Basically everyone at TNT pitched in: engineers, pilots, management, office workers, all employees… We all rolled up our sleeves. It’s a memory that has remained with us all. We can do great things together.”
|
