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Through careful logging of daily deicing activity — including the amount of fluid dispensed and the number of aircraft deiced — the Servisair personnel at Toronto Pearson International Airport have kept a calculated eye to estimate the amount of fluid needed for impending inclement weather during the winter season.

But even the best laid plans have the potential to go awry — especially in the business of deicing aircraft at the world’s largest central deicing facility.

To provide assurance and limit rush orders, Dow Chemical Company, in its role as a glycol supplier to Servisair, has placed storage tanks on site for the deicing operator at its central deicing facility. The three poly tanks have a storage capacity of 25,000 liters (about 6,500 gallons) of fluid each. Under the agreement, the deicing facility is charged only for the amount of “emergency” stock that is used.

A model in cooperation
“The idea is in most situations they wouldn’t have to use it,” says Kendall Justiniano, market manager for the aircraft deicing group at Dow. “We could use our terminal deliveries. If we have enough lead time, we can almost always supply them what they need from our terminal and they have enough storage to be able to get through most events, but deicing is one of those things where it’s very much event driven so if you get into a situation and you have a significant storm, you could very quickly potentially max out and that’s the worry.”

The tanks were put on site in the 2006-2007 winter season. The program was spurred by Dow’s yearly analysis of its performance as a supplier, which indicated a notable number of rush orders for fluids at the Toronto facility. “Toronto is a real big station for us. We have a terminal position right outside the airport. We have the ability to get fluid there quickly so we were also wondering why the number of rush orders,” he says.

Dow engaged in discussions with Servisair to better understand the station’s operations, which eventually led to an agreement by both companies. “They were counting on us to be able to supply for them when they needed and they weren’t really considering the fact that if they can give us more lead time, we can actually respond in a better fashion,” Justiniano says.

“Once they realized that ... they were actually able to change their habits pretty easily and obviously they did that in exchange for us being able to position some of the material on site for them,” he says.