Drone deliveries: the future of freight forwarding?

Freight forwarding has evolved over the years by adopting various technologies for an efficient delivery system, and it seems as if drones are set to play a big part in the future.

Absolute Markets Insights, a global market research company, highlights that the global freight forwarding market was valued at US$169.66 billion in 2020 owing to a surge in demand from e-commerce and the pharmaceutical industry. In its report, Global Freight Forwarding Market New Trends, Technology and Analysis Report 2021-2029, the company highlights that this market should grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.2% in that time period.

“The last five years have seen a rapid and sustained period of digitalisation in the global freight forwarding market. Many start-ups have entered the market to tackle inefficiencies in the forwarding process while large freight global forwarders have also rapidly embraced technology and revolutionised their business models in response,” it reads. “Additionally due to Covid-19, freight forwarders are looking forward towards adoption of advanced technology and digital services to provide better services.”

Air freight is estimated to grow at the fastest rate during the 2021 to 2029 period in the global freight forwarding market. “The global volume of air freight has increased rapidly over the recent years with freight volumes reaching 61.3 million tonnes in 2019, the reason being the rising volumes of air freight due to free trade agreements worldwide,” notes the report.

This sector is also seeing many advancements. Natilus, a US company producing the world’s first purposefully designed and manufactured autonomous aircraft for air freight transport, has announced advanced pre-order purchase commitments exceeding US$6 billion for the delivery of more than 440 aircraft, from companies including major airlines and integrators.

Natilus offers four unmanned aerial vehicles ranging from nearly 3.5 tonnes to more than 145 tonnes, covering short-haul, as well as medium and long range trips.

“In parallel with the development of our family of autonomous aircraft, we are working closely with customers to increase the efficiency of air transportation and make it more competitive and safer than ocean shipping,” states NatilusCEO Aleksey Matyushev. “Today, there are only two ways to move cargo internationally: by air and by sea. The difference between the cost and time of these two modes of transportation is dramatic. Sea freight is currently 13 times less expensive than air freight; but 50 times slower in delivery. Natilus intends to revolutionise the transport industry by providing the timeliness of air freight at an affordable cost reduction of 60%, making air cargo transportation substantially more competitive.”

The market for autonomous cargo aircraft is greater than US$280 billion, based on the latest market report. The company believes, however, that with its price point, it will introduce a new category of freight, expanding the air freight market to US$470 billion.

Drones aren’t only destined to soar over the Northern Hemisphere, however… Australian aerial logistics and drone delivery company Swoop Aero has partnered with the drone services subsidiary of heavy air logistics specialist Astral Aviation and drone operations partner Skyports to launch a drone logistics network in Kenya. Swoop Aero’s experience operating drone logistics networks in seven countries will be employed alongside their native technology platform to transport medicines, vaccines, and medical samples between healthcare facilities and patients in need across Kenya, beginning with last-mile delivery by the end of 2022.

These operations present a landmark for the region, encompassing the first Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flight and operation demonstration approvals, launched in close coordination with the Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority to ensure safety and compliance with local regulations.

“We’re excited to be expanding Swoop Aero’s service in Kenya in partnership with Astral Aerial Solutions and Skyports, in what will be a first for the region. Kenya represents the 14^th country in which the Swoop Aero technology platform has underpinned BVLOS drone logistics regulatory approvals. The regulatory approvals and operations will bring Swoop Aero closer to providing an integrated drone logistics service to 100 million people by 2025,” says Eric Peck, CEO of Swoop Aero.

“We’re excited to be coming together with Skyports and Swoop Aero to offer last-mile delivery solutions in Kenya,” says Kush Gadhia, CEO of Astral Aerial Solutions. “This partnership presents a unique opportunity to reduce delivery times and increase accessibility to healthcare and other industries that may support drone logistics into the future.”

In Mozambique, meanwhile, Swoop Aero is partnering with the National Health Institute (INS), the Health Sector of Inhambane, and VillageReach, in a study to transport laboratory samples for infectious diseases such as Covid-19, tuberculosis, and HIV, as well as medical products.

“With this study, we hope to obtain pleasing results to improve the efficiency in the national health system, regarding the care of the population in areas that are difficult to access. The first phase of the study showed promising results for what was our goal, which was to verify the sample quality, safety, and feasibility of using drones in the transportation of samples of Covid-19 and tuberculosis. We have started the second phase, whose scope is wider and the medical products to be transported are diversified,” says Sofia Viegas, national director of public health laboratories for the INS.

The two-way capability of the aircraft expedites deliveries of health products including drugs, reagents, samples, and other supplies to avoid current shortages of laboratory test kits, immunisation kits, and other health products in these communities.

“The drones offer progress in epidemiological disease surveillance and early detection of outbreaks. This becomes especially important for under-reached communities at the last mile. It also creates more equitable access to rapid diagnosis and treatment for rural populations, fulfilling the promise of primary health care services for all,” says Rotafina Donco, VillageReach country director.

The Drones for Health programme in Inhambane is part of the multi-phase approach to establishing routine drone operations in Mozambique. The first phase took place in Maputo province between 2018 and 2020 and covered the generation of evidence on the potential benefits and costs of drone transport. This included a study, led by INS, which transported 140 laboratory samples of Covid-19 (encompassing a total of 10 hours of air travel), while 160 tuberculosis samples were simultaneously transported by ground. The study validated the assumption that drone transport does not compromise the quality of laboratory samples compared to ground transport.

The INS recommended future studies at national level to allow validation of the use of drones in real world conditions, leading to the launch of Drones for Health Phase 2, in Inhambane province.

Drone deliveries are definitely drumming up support across our continent and abroad. At this rate, might this transport mode even take over freight forwarding completely in the future?