Hellmann and Dronamics partner on drone delivery in Europe

Dronamics and Hellmann Worldwide Logistics are partnering to develop a European middle-mile drone delivery network for cross-border transportation of time-critical goods, including for Hellmann’s automotive and marine spare parts businesses. [caption id="attachment_95246" align="alignright" width="450"] Dronamics will launch operations on behalf of Hellmann Logistics beginning in 2022. (Photo/Dronamics)[/caption] The Dronamics Black Swan drones have cargo capacity of 350 kg and range of up to 2,500 km, according to yesterday’s press release on the partnership. The drone capabilities make them a suitable solution for time-critical intra-Europe operations that may currently be fulfilled either by scheduled intra-Europe airfreight or by courier van, Jan Kleine-Lasthues, chief operating officer airfreight for Hellmann, told Air Cargo World . “If you were using normal commercial airfreight, then you’re depending on the schedule of an airline,” said Kleine-Lasthues. “We all learned in the coronavirus crisis that there were no flights intra-Europe at certain times last year and that we were highly dependent on those flight schedules. Therefore, last year has shown all of us that we need also to think about different solutions.” Dronamics, which earlier this year adjusted its focus to operating their cargo drones as a service under the newly launched Dronamics Airlines brand , expects to be licensed for the EU airport-to-airport cargo operations it is pursuing by the end of 2021, co-founder and CEO Svilen Rangelov told Air Cargo World . From that point, the EU’s regulatory framework will allow Dronamics to notify each country where it intends to operate. After its operations are authorized, Dronamics intends to begin its Hellmann operations with a single drone flying between two specialized drone ports but will ramp up to as many as 60 drones by the end of 2022, Rangelov said. “Initially we will use one drone, and that means it has to come back because we’re only operating two drone ports,” said Rangelov. “As the number of locations increases, then our hands become untied and we can truly benefit from the fact that there is no crew traveling with the vehicle. We can then allocate flights on a much more on-demand and point-to-point basis.” Hellmann and Dronamics are considering multiple markets for the launch of operations, according to Kleine-Lasthues, with a focus on markets with high demand for time-critical shipments. “We are already a major player in time-critical logistics with operations for example in Hungary,” Kleine-Lasthues said. “Here we want to further grow – for automotive clients but also other industries such as pharma. Also very important for the marine spare business would be Hamburg or the Hamburg area, so there are there different places we are looking at.” In addition to the reduced need to adhere to airline schedules or face congested roads around major cities, the drones may operate to less frequently utilized airports closer to the end destinations for shipments, Kleine-Lastheus said, leading to faster final-mile transportation without major strategy shifts required for that leg of the shipment. “The difference is that the distance from the destination airport to the final consignee is much shorter than normal because we can use much closer airports and also airports on-demand,” said Kleine-Lastheus. “It's not that we have to always use the Iberia or Lufthansa flight into Madrid, but we can use much smaller and more remote airports. Therefore, the new service can help as well on the sustainability strategy , because it allows for less distance on the last-mile transport.”

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