TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS
DELIVERING THE GOODS
Whether on the road or flying high, the transport industry is transforming in the greatest ways. Words: Ian Lloyd Neubauer
It’s arguably the most important sector in our entire economy – one that underwrites the viability of most businesses and organisations in Australia. From the foods we eat to the medicine that keeps us well and the fuel that propels the aircraft you are flying in now, they’re all dependent on transport and logistics. But it’s changing rapidly. Here are three short stories about the men and women who toil thanklessly to grease the wheels of commerce and the quantum changes redefining the industry.
THE AGE OF DRONES Transporting goods from retailers to households is one of the most costly parts of the supply chain; it accounts for 15 to 20 per cent of transaction costs because logistics operators face congested city roads on one end and sparsely populated countryside on the other. It also adds to greenhouse gases, congestion and traffic accidents. But that’s about to change thanks to a new generation of automated drones that can cut delivery costs and times by magnitudes. By 2030 it’s estimated that at least one-quarter of all household deliveries will be carried by drones. The revolution has already begun in Canberra, where Alphabet startup Wing launched the world’s first commercial drone delivery service.
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