Without interrupting operation: New construction and partial modernization with a new drive supplier
The recent expansion and modernization have equipped Hamburg Airport for the increasing numbers of passengers and quantities of baggage. At present, the airport handles about fifteen million passengers per year. The project included that a single interlinked baggage conveyor system be implemented for the first time. In 2005, the conveyor system in Terminal 2 was exchanged and modernized during full operation. Three years later, the parallel conveyor architectures were linked to form a single system. All baggage security checks are now carried out in the basement. Thus, an innovative, flexible, and astonishingly efficient intermediate storage system was implemented. At the same time, handling of transfer baggage between airlines was considerably simplified.
Roger Mest, Electrical Engineering Operations Manager with Real Estate Maintenance Hamburg GmbH, a subsidiary of Hamburg Airport, still considers the conversion during operation to be a remarkable feat for all concerned. NORD did a very good job to enable that. The fact that Hamburg Airport is near the NORD headquarters can be seen as a coincidence. NORD has already equipped many airports throughout the world, including Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham, as well as Ottawa, Johannesburg, and Taipei. Mest sums up: “We decided for NORD as an experienced provider of airport equipment. That the know-how comes from our region is a bonus. It was important for us to have a dependable partner.” In the course of the modernization, the airport company changed its drive supplier. Mest: “With the large amount to be handled, we cannot afford breakdowns of the conveyor system. Before the conversion we repeatedly had problems with the drive technology, which sometimes annoyed us. Although there has been a great increase in the number of drive units, there are rarely any failures now, and most of them can be quickly remedied on site. We are very satisfied with the installed technology. Above all, we know that we can handle the increased load and that flights need not be delayed due to failures of the system."