Cruises

Cruises are popular. The Baltic, in particular, has become a more important destination for Germans holidaying on the high seas. The latest study of the cruise market presented by the German Travel Association (DRV) in 2010 confirms this trend. And holidaymakers who go to sea naturally bring luggage with them. The shipping company AIDA Cruises, whose liners now sail to Oslo and St. Petersburg just as frequently as Dubai or the Caribbean, has now opted for a new logistics concept for transporting luggage. Since February and March, 60 newly developed roll containers from Wanzl have been in use on each of the three ships AIDAbella, AIDAluna and AIDAdiva and, a month later, are also to be used on AIDAsol, which will begin its maiden voyage in April. The aim is to optimise luggage logistics for both guests and staff by reducing the time taken to embark and disembark the passengers by up to 30 percent.

Reducing luggage touch points

In future, all items of luggage will be collected on the Wanzl roll containers on embarkation to all four ships and optimised for onward transportation to the respective target deck as well as pre-sorted according to the position of the cabins. The roll containers will then be transferred directly to the ship and into the lifts to ensure that the luggage is delivered to the door of its owner's cabin as quickly as possible. This optimised process for transporting luggage will see luggage touch points reduced by over 50 percent. If a passenger hands over their luggage before embarkation, each item of luggage will only need to be handled by an AIDA employee three to four times before it reaches the cabin door. Up to ten contacts per item of luggage were hitherto required for this process. On disembarkation, the new logistical process for luggage will follow exactly the same sequence as for embarkation, but in reverse.