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Dnata Cargo Staff Prove They Are Eco Friendly
14 May 2002
Cargo staff at Dubai International Airport have proved that they friends of the environment by beating their targets for reducing use of resources such as water, electricity and paper. 

The secret, they say, is constant awareness-building through meetings at management, supervisory and staff level and poster campaigns throughout the workplace. 

The staff are all employed by Dnata Cargo, part of the Emirates Group, and the cargo handler at the terminal in the Dubai Air Cargo Village plus satellite terminals in the Dubai Airport and Jebel Ali Free Zones.

In 2000, the company was awarded the ISO 14001 accreditation for environmental management. In 2001, the first full year of operations with that accreditation, staff have beaten the targets set for reducing consumption of valuable resources. This was confirmed when the company was given an assessment by Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI), which awarded Dnata Cargo its accreditation in 2000. 

Used paper for recycling is collected from Dnata Cargo every month by Union Paper Mills. During 2001, staff collected more than 15 tonnes. Their target for paper usage per employee was 19 kilos and they achieved 16 kilos. 

Two more developments are leading the company towards a paperless environment. Dnata Cargo's Planning and Development department has introduced Q-Pulse, the user-friendly software that manages all documentation relating to its quality management system. Procedures, instructions and manuals are now issued, reviewed and approved electronically.  

The Emirates Cargo Centre, set up and managed for its first year by Dnata Cargo, boasts handheld terminals. Weighing 620 grams, the handhelds replace the old system in which paper forms were passed from section to section before the information was captured on PCs. Thanks to the handhelds, information is now passed by radio frequency. 

At all Dnata-operated cargo terminals at Dubai airport (the main cargo terminal, the Emirates Cargo Centre and the Freezone Logistics Centre in the Dubai Airport Free Zone), the reduction of fuel used is another success story.  

The target for petrol use was 0.0113 gallons per tonne of cargo handled and staff achieved 0.0078; for diesel, the target was 0.00779 gallons per tonne of cargo handled and staff achieved 0.0777. 

Other figures show progress across the company. Water consumption at the Dnata Cargo's satellite terminal in the Jebel Ali Free Zone was targeted at 1305 gallons per employee; staff achieved 801.  

In the Freezone Logistics Centre at Dubai airport, the target for electricity consumption was 4.61 kilowatts per ton of cargo handled; staff succeeded in almost halving that figure to 2.95 kilowatts per ton of cargo handled.  

The conservation campaign is driven by Dnata Cargo's Planning and Development department, which holds twice-monthly meetings with all managers to review progress. Department heads then hold their own meetings in turn with their supervisors to brief them, review feedback and discuss further improvements.  

Ramesh Mamidala, Cargo Planning and Development Manager, said: "Frequent, regular meetings ensure that everyone from senior management down is involved and that progress is constantly reviewed. We never let the environmental pot go off the boil." 

Posters and banners educate and reinforce awareness of environmental issues, but it is not only at work that staff put their principles into action. They have also been enthusiastic participants at the weekend in Dubai Municipality and UAE Government clean-up campaigns.  

The aim of ISO14001 is to protect resources, minimise their use and emphasise recycling. "The success that Dnata Cargo staff have achieved shows the difference that everyone could make by simply being more aware," said Mamidala.

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