The whole point of the Northern Ireland Protocol was to protect the single markets of both Great Britain and the EU. Because of Northern Ireland’s special historical status and physical geography, the protocol essentially put up some barriers to the movement of goods between GB and NI, both parts of the UK, of course. Firms that had previously sent goods to customers in Northern Ireland from the mainland found that they needed to complete extensive amounts of paperwork, often facing increased costs for shipping items to the region, as well. Meanwhile, suppliers in the Irish Republic faced very few difficulties in sending goods to customers in the North. Virtually since the deal was signed by the UK government, it has signalled its intent to withdraw from the protocol unless trade friction between Northern Ireland and the mainland could be stablised.

One of the hardest aspects of the protocol that needed to be overcome, therefore, was a crucial demand by Brussels was that UK officials were able to provide the EU with real-time, detailed information about any and all goods movements that happened to be taking place between Britain and Northern Ireland. This was set out clearly in article 12 of the protocol, something that the UK government had signed up to. Indeed, at the time, Mr Šefčovič made it clear in a written statement that London had agreed it would provide adequate equipment and facilities to make the protocol work as well as what he called ‘continuous and real-time access’ to HMRC’s IT systems, databases that were designed to track the movements of goods ‘both on the ground and remotely’.

Progress and Reciprocity

Unfortunately for British firms, such systems did not exist at the time. Consequently, physical paperwork was being used for nearly all classes of goods passing between Liverpool or Holyhead to Belfast. Some unionists claimed that the protocol was, therefore, making it harder for Northern Ireland to trade as a genuine part of the UK. In the region’s autonomous assembly, political stalemate took hold with no elected members sitting and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland threatening all parties in the region with new elections this autumn unless something was done. However, according to numerous press outlets, nearly two years on from the initial Gove-Šefčovič agreement, the imagined digital system that would allow for goods in transit to be monitored by officials in both trading blocs is finally nearing completion. In turn, this has led some commentators to say that they hope the protocol can work in the interests of the UK as well as the EU and, perhaps more importantly, in an acceptable way for all communities in Northern Ireland itself.

According to one Irish report, dealing with the data-sharing element of the protocol has constituted ‘a long and contentious journey’ for both EU and UK officials. Indeed, it is fair to say that the progress on it has been subject to avoidable delays and disagreements. Nevertheless, the progress made with technology could lead to some of the seemingly intractable problems of the protocol soon being unlocked. Indeed, an unnamed source close to the negotiation team in Ireland is reported to have said that the recent progress that has been made is ‘hugely important’ because it gives the guardians of the EU single market ‘a more robust way of safeguarding the customs union’. The source went on to add that, with only a few more tweaks, it would be possible to see how the agreed technology would also protect the single market, too. “What’s more, it helps to build trust,” the anonymous source said. This is vital in the eyes of many who have been involved in UK-EU relations in recent years which have been marked by an absence of candour. For some, greater trust in each other’s systems will help the EU to move on other things. “The EU has been asking London for this sort of reciprocity [in data systems]… and now, at long last, it is being delivered,” the source is quoted as saying.

Under the 2020 deal signed by the UK government and the EU, it was agreed that EU officials would be granted access to now fewer than five named UK databases. Until now they have not been able to do so on a continuous or real-time basis. Nor have they been able to do so remotely which was also a prerequisite of the system working to the satisfaction of both parties. Now, HMRC has said that it has developed a single IT system that is able to bring the five previously agreed-upon databases together. The bespoke software for EU officials has been given the title of the EU Access System by UK customs officials. It is hoped this will function reliably and allow EU customs officers access to HMRC’s customs declaration service (CDS) directly. This is the UK’s main customs system that is used for declaring goods moving in and out of the country to all overseas territories which, for all intents and purposes under the protocol, includes Northern Ireland. CDS is used to help identify goods that may require physical checks and is also used to collect duty payments for certain commodities.

The EU Access System will also offer unfettered access to the import control system for Northern Ireland (ICS). Focussed on the management of hazardous materials, ICS is currently used to make safety and security declarations as well as risk assessments. The system will also provide access to HMRC’s goods vehicle movement service (GVMS), a system which matches the physical movement of a shipment through a port to its corresponding electronic movement. GVMS does so by matching CDS declarations with the registration number of the truck that is conveying it, for example. Furthermore, EU officials will soon be able to gain access to the transit system for Northern Ireland (NCTS), a system that has only just been digitised. This IT system allows traders to move cargo through a particular territory without stopping. It helps to avoid double payments of duty and to keep customs checks away from ports and other infrastructure. Finally, the new EU Access System will also provide access to the UK’s freight targeting system (FTS). In short, FTS collates ferry manifest information, something that contributes to the intelligence gathering of goods in transit to help identify illicit activities.

Cross-Border Cooperation

According to the most recent reports, EU officials will be able to use the new system to check on individual consignments from any location in the Republic of Ireland – or Brussels for that matter. Indeed, the digital platform should help them to better understand the patterns of goods passing over the Irish Sea that may potentially go on to enter the South. In fact, a drag-and-drop functionality has been designed into the system to make it easier for customs officials to spot anomalies that might deserve closer investigation. If a customs officer thinks that there may be an issue with a particular consignment, then he or she can flag it so that the relevant van or truck is stopped by HMRC as soon as it comes off the ferry in Northern Ireland and, crucially, before it leaves the port of arrival when it would be harder to track. It is hoped that this level of tracking and cross-border cooperation will reassure the EU that the UK is serious about making a success of the protocol despite some of the political manoeuvrings that have surrounded it in recent months.

In the end, the system will only work in a political sense if it works at a technical and practical level. As soon as people who might try to abuse the system for goods in transit between the mainland of the UK and Northern Ireland realise that it is not a viable back door to the EU’s single market, the more the EU is likely to relax about its interpretation of how the whole of the protocol should be implemented. At the moment, both sides’ technical teams seem to be hopeful that the technology will have this desired effect.

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What is the latest news with respect to shipping and delivery technology today? Read on to find out.

BigCommerce Announces Global Partnership with DHL to Support US Growth Plans

The technology firm BigCommerce, which has developed one of the most widely used open SaaS e-commerce platforms, has said that it has entered a new commercial relationship with one of the world’s leading providers of international express shipping brands, DHL. BigCommerce had previously been viewed as a tech firm that was associated with fast-growing and up-and-coming business-to-consumer and business-to-business firms, so a partnership with a truly established firm like DHL is being viewed as a significant step up by many. The recently announced commercial relationship will be geared toward helping online businesses in the USA initially. The idea is that the owners of such internet-based businesses will be better able to capitalise on opportunities overseas and to expand their portfolio of customers and products globally.

According to the CEO of DHL Express, Greg Hewitt, the logistics provider – which is actually headquartered in Bonn, Germany – was looking forward to working with BigCommerce because it would allow more of their merchant client base in the US to strengthen their reach across the globe. Significantly, Hewitt reckoned that this would be something that was achievable across a variety of industries. “As the requirements of start-ups enterprises – as well as mid-market firms and larger enterprises – evolve and heighten,” he said, “We will be able to further their support.” Hewitt explained that BigCommerce merchants should now expect fast, reliable and expedited shipments through the partnership that would ‘optimise their cross-border potential’.

BigCommerce, as a NASDAQ-listed software services provider, currently has many merchant customers in the United States that rely on its service to run their e-commerce back-room operations. With the new announcement, merchants who join the scheme will be able to access discounted rates from DHL Express. However, the programme is not entirely one of offering lower pricing for global and domestic shipping. Crucially, any merchant that subscribes to the scheme will also gain access to DHL’s logistics and international shipping professionals to help them with both imported and exported goods.

Under the partnership programme, BigCommerce’s clients will also be able to use DHL’s On Demand Delivery tool. According to DHL, this provides their commercial clients with proactive notifications of the progress of shipments as well as giving the option of flexible delivery arrangements across the world. As Russell Klein, chief commercial officer at BigCommerce put it, the partnership with DHL illustrates ‘our commitment’ to providing online retailers in the US access to technologies and service providers of the highest calibre in the logistics sector today. “DHL shares BigCommerce’s ambition to help retailers grow faster and sell more to maximise their commercial success,” he said.

London-Based Zencargo Announces Partnership With Tech Firm Tive for Greater Shipment Visibility

A leading digital freight forwarding firm that operates from the City of London has recently said it is teaming up with shipment tracking solution provider, Tive. The idea is that customers who make use of Zencargo’s freight forwarding expertise will soon be able to track their shipments as they move around the world in real time. The idea is that it will help organisations that rely on international supply chains to make better decisions about their processes as they are able to gain up-to-the-minute information about their deliveries. For its part, Tive describes itself as a ‘visibility solution provider’ which is able to provide critical shipment locational data thanks to sensors that it claims are the best in their class.

Not only does Tive’s solution mean that companies that rely on shipping in parts and components will have a much better idea of when they will arrive but the locational data provided also helps to cut down on unwanted problems like missing shipments and theft to a certain extent. Where temperature-controlled shipments are being made – for food consignments and certain pharmaceutical goods, for example – Tive’s sensors will also be able to provide accurate information directly to Zencargo’s clients. According to Tive, this can be invaluable to certain business models that rely on goods arriving in mint condition for their own quality assurance purposes.

According to a statement made to the press announcing the partnership, the supply chain industry has faced much disruption over the past two years. Therefore, Zencargo wanted to find a way that would mean its clients could better understand the progress of shipments as they happened rather than for them simply to put up with increased costs and longer lead times in the sector. In particular, Zencargo’s executives thought this was crucial for importers of perishable goods, which is why the temperature and condition tracking offered by Tive’s technological solution was so appealing to them.

According to the freight forwarding firm, partnering with Tive will mean that Zencargo can provide its customers with deeper insights into the current location and condition of goods at the very moment such information is needed. Tive already works with some trusted global brands, tracking the real-time shipments of firms like Alpine Fresh, Biocair and OBE Organic, among others. Thanks to its industry-leading and highly accurate trackers, Tive says that it can ensure businesses are able to monitor inventories throughout the entire transportation journeys of goods in transit while meeting quality and regulatory compliance requirements. In the end, Zencargo is betting that this will mean improving the satisfaction of its services among its customers.

Indeed, Tive’s Solo 5G sensor technology matches – to a certain extent – the sort of service offering that Zencargo wants to promote. These sensors have geofencing capabilities and also provide automated notifications to coincide with the arrival and departure times of shipments. Equally, if an unexpected route deviation occurs, Tive’s solution will provide an alert. Given that Zencargo’s business model goes beyond a traditional freight forwarding model by promoting a digital platform through which all stakeholders involved in an intermodal supply chain can liaise with one another, Tive’s technology appears to be a good fit.

Alex Hersham, Zencargo’s Chief Executive Officer said that because of the partnership, his firm would be able to add greater visibility to supply chains that go even further than the current services they offer. “By making sure [our clients]… have all the information they need to to make agile decisions,” he said, “Delays and losses of goods can be prevented.”

Tive’s founder, Krenar Komoni, backed Hersham’s sentiment. He said that the new service would allow Zencargo’s customers to view hyper-accurate condition and location tracking information in real-time. “Looking from within the Zencargo platform to help prevent problems before they rise,” he said that this would help to ensure that goods arrive on time and in full more often.

Enhanced Truckload Capabilities Announced by Banyan Technology

Based in Ohio, Banyan Technology, one of the world’s foremost providers of freight and logistics management software that provides over the road (OTR) shipping solutions, has pre-announced that it will unveil a new truckload service at a logistic trade show in the US later this year. At Connect 2022, which will take place in Cleveland this year, Banyan says it will demonstrate its enhanced truckload system for the first time. Providing real-time access to load boards, this enhanced software solution will allow Banyan’s clients to rate and compare various OTR shipping modes before executing them. Crucially, this will all be possible from a single-screen interface, allowing logistics firms to significantly simplify their shipping operations.

“I am excited to showcase our commitment to our truckload solution,” said Brian Smith, Banyan’s CEO. “[The enhancement will]… make it easier to rate and book truckload shipments via our LIVE platform,” he added. Smith went on to explain that this would function for both direct carrier APIs as well as for the automated management of contracted rates. Deanna Castello, Director of Marketing for Banyan, echoed his CEO’s comments, stating that Connect 2022 constituted the ‘perfect time and place’ to release their newly enhanced service option that will round out all of the tech firm’s OTR modes within a single software platform. Connect 2022 Conference takes place at the start of October and will be attended by over a hundred commercial firms in both the United States and Canada that currently use Banyan’s software systems. According to Banyan Technology, the software firm has access to three times more carriers than any other service provider in North America today.

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Soon after the trouble caused by the pandemic started to fall away, there were international tensions that caused shipping companies additional problems. Of course, the war between Russia and Ukraine – with the attendant rising cost of fuel for container vessels and trucks alike – pushed up the price of moving containers of all sizes from one part of the world to another. Military manoeuvring in the Far East, largely around the disputed island of Taiwan, also added to these shipping headaches. Overall, the container shipping industry has had a lot to contend with for two and half years, at least.

However, new data published by the Port of Valencia has encouraged many in the containerised shipping sector. Located in eastern Spain, this port has long been considered a bellwether in the shipping industry. In other words, what trends and practices are discernible there tend to be repeated soon afterwards in other European ports, particularly those in the Mediterranean. Recently published figures for August 2022 show remarkable improvements for the shipping industry in a number of areas. These are worth looking into a little more closely as they provide analytical data that is likely to help planning and investment in the containerised shipping industry in much of Europe and other locations around the world. Read on to find out more about the traffic indicators and other statistics recorded by officials at the Port of Valencia during the month of August.

Often regarded by international freight commentators as a barometer of the state of international trade, Valenciaport’s announcement about its terminals offered two distinct directions of travel. Compared to August 2021, the port’s owners recorded a drop in transhipment traffic. However, this was more than made up for by new highs in import container traffic. In addition, solid and liquid bulk cargoes as well as cruise passenger numbers saw a significant twelve-month rise. According to the Statistical Bulletin of the Port Authority of Valencia – the body responsible for measuring traffic through the port – during the month of August this year, Valenciaport set two milestones. Firstly, a total of 86,463 containers were unloaded at Valencia, indicating a big upturn in imports. To make that clear, this is a rise of over 21 per cent compared to the same month in 2021. There was also an upturn of around 10 per cent in the unloading of empty containers at the port. Although this is not indicative of import figures, it suggests that the containerised shipping sector is returning to something like pre-pandemic normality.

In related news, the Port of Valencia also said that it had seen the full recovery of its cruise tourism sector. The August figures noted the arrival of over 103,000 passengers. Perhaps of more significance to the haulage industry is that there was a recorded drop of over 5 per cent of outgoing containers year on year. Full containers (FCL shipments) saw the sharpest decrease, the ports figures stated. Nevertheless, the overall picture of container movements at the bellwether port was up – and up significantly – compared to the last few years.

It is also important to note that August was not an outlier when it comes to the increased movements of shipping containers in eastern Spain. According to the latest statistics, the rise in import containers being unloaded in Valencia can be just as easily evidenced by the cumulative number of those being handled throughout 2022 thus far. From January to August, for example, there was an increase of almost 10 per cent compared with the same eight-month period in 2021. That is not bad considering much of this year has been subject to geopolitical complexity, not least in the eastern Mediterranean which has been most impacted by the war being waged in the Black Sea. Given the problems international traders have faced with the increased risks the war in Ukraine has inevitably led to, there have been month-on-month – sometimes week-on-week – fluctuations in international trade.

These ups and downs, however, were evened out when the first eight months of 2022 have been viewed as a whole. To put this in a clearer, more statistical light, some 55.48 million tonnes of goods have been handled by workers at the Port of Valencia since the start of the year. Nevertheless, a note of caution should be sounded. Despite the encouraging figures on container movements at the port, the report made clear that movements of full TEUs – that is to say, standard 20-foot containers that are over six metres in length – saw a fall in 2022 so far. Although modest, a recorded drop of 6.23 per cent in FCL containers dedicated to cargo will raise eyebrows in the industry. Some commentators have already described the decrease in transhipment figures at the Port of Valencia as revealing that the port no longer provides the economy of scale that it once did. Given that more than only 80 per cent of its occupancy rate was being used during peak business days, some shippers have been looking at other, larger ports in the western Mediterranean for their containers. Like many other ports of its size, this could indicate that the Port of Valencia is now being increasingly regarded as too small, something that could indicate a wider trend toward more massive seaport investment.

Furthermore, there has recently been a move by shipping container companies themselves to provide greater economies of scale. Two of the four leading suppliers of insulated container boxes and refrigerated shipping containers – China International Marine Containers and Maersk Container Industry – had announced earlier in the year that they were preparing to merge with one another. However, this would have left the world exposed to very little competition in the sector had the plan gone ahead, something that notably raised the eyebrows of officials in the United States. The Department of Justice there announced an investigation into the proposed sale of Maersk Container Industry to the Chinese-backed firm. In August, it said that following their investigation, China International Marine Containers had decided to pull out of the deal. As such, the company’s attempt to control 90 per cent of the global refrigerated container market is now on hold, perhaps permanently.

Consequently, it seems that the push towards greater economies of scale at both container ports and the manufacturers of shipping containers may be something that does not continue as many have predicted in 2022 and beyond. At some point, the flexibility of mid-sized seaports, like Valencia, may be what the market is looking for, especially if the need for more agile shipments picks up compared to the current trend towards rock bottom pricing competitiveness. Indeed, this very fact may account for why the Port of Valencia has been seen as a lightning rod for the shipping industry over the course of the last couple of decades. With increasing potential for governmental interventions – as the Maersk takeover episode shows – the container shipping sector still needs to remain competitive and, above all, versatile in a rapidly changing world.

After all, few would have predicted in 2021 that there would be such sectorial differences in the figures for imports at the Port of Valencia. Back then – before Russia had invaded Ukraine – the steep rise in the imports of natural gas the port has seen in 2022 wouldn’t have been obvious. And yet, it is worth highlighting the traffic requirements of the energy sector in Valencia, notably with natural gas, would go up by as much as 160 per cent compared with the same period last year. In this sector alone, over 2,668,000 tonnes of natural gas imports have arrived in Spain this year so far, mostly from the USA, but also with significant contributions from Nigeria and Egypt. There again, imports of vehicles and transportation sector parts have also increased, albeit with a less significant margin.

Echoing the overall trend of increased import movements compared to export movements, container traffic in Valencia also saw an upturn in the agri-food industry. Movements of shipping containers with canned food produce rose by some 14 per cent while a similar figure was recorded by the animal feed and fodder sub-sector. Imports of containerised oils and fats also went up but by a slightly lower margin. Many international shipping professionals now expect to see similar figures from other Western European ports although, with post-Brexit trading arrangements still a factor, the pattern in the UK may prove to diverge from other countries in the region. That said, August’s figures for TEUs handled to and from the UK rose by 60 per cent compared to the same period in 2021, according to the Port of Valencia’s latest data.

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“The great majority of goods that people order through on-demand suppliers nowadays could be handled by our drone delivery capability very easily,” Woodworth said during the interview. As a former chief technology officer at Wing, it seems that the current CEO isn’t simply talking up the possibilities of drones in courier settings but understands both its capabilities and its limitations very well. During his time on the podcast, Woodworth explained that drone delivery solutions are not suited to every kind of consignment. “If I need to shift a few tons of gravel from one place to another,” he said, “then I should still rent a dump truck.” He said that it would be foolish to put it in the back of a family car because it is a question of finding the right delivery mechanisms for the right job. This may come as a relief to those who ply their trade in the last-mile delivery market in the UK where Wing-like technology may soon be making its presence felt.

Nevertheless, Woodworth went on to say that most of what consumers place online orders for from the likes of Amazon, Starbucks and the ubiquitous US retailer, Walmart, is suited to drone delivery systems. Eyeing the million plus brick and mortar retail outlets in the US alone – not to mention the vast number of online stores which looks soon to surpass the two million figure – he pointed out the simple fact that most consumer goods don’t weigh a couple of tons like a consignment of gravel. “Much of it comes in at just a few pounds,” he said. According to Woodworth, this means that such orders are ripe for drone technology which could soon replace fossil-fuel run trucks that cause particulate emissions wherever they’re driven.

Cheaper Deliveries for Consumers

In the podcast, Woodworth claimed that drone deliveries can be up to ten times as cheap when they are compared to older-style trucks. He cited figures published by a European drone delivery start-up firm named Manna, based in Ireland. Whether these figures are truly borne out in the real world and whether they also take into account energy efficiency measures that the global delivery sector has already taken remains to be seen, however. That being said, Woodworth’s comments clearly show that the drone technology sector thinks it has a twin advantage over current delivery models. To be clear, they think it is both cleaner and cheaper to deliver lower-weight items with electric drones.

Despite the undoubted optimism of Woodworth – and others in the technology-driven delivery sector – there are some limitations that the podcast covered. During the interview, for example, Woodworth agreed that the environmental cost of sending a drone to deliver something light, like a book, a prescription or a pair of socks was much more obvious than it was for larger items, such as toaster ovens. He also said that using one drone for something bulky like an oven was not yet compatible with orders of perishable items since they’d slow deliveries down. He pointed out that an iced drink order, if sent with something like a toaster oven, would make no sense, for example, given that the ice would probably have melted by the time the delivery arrived.

Deliveries for the Information Age

It is worth noting that Wing is, at heart, a Google startup company which is seeking to ‘join up’ its operations from the place where people place orders to when they receive them. Wing graduated from Google’s internal idea development programme, known as Google X only as recently as 2018. In just four years, it has gone from taking the drone concept on paper to making it a practical reality.

Indeed, it was only in 2019 that Wing was awarded with an air operator’s certificate from the relevant body in the US, the FAA. Gaining such approvals might take more time in the European Union but if Wing can adequately demonstrate its abilities in the courier insurance market and a strong safety record, then UK approval for its operations could come more rapidly. For now, it is worth noting that Wing is officially designated as an airline and must, therefore, operate according to all of the rules and regulations that cover air operators in the US today. Since it gained its FAA accreditation, Wing has gone on to deliver in excess of a quarter of a million packages. Notably, this number of deliveries has been attained since April of this year. This is when it launched the first commercial drone delivery service of its kind. Restricted to the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas for now, Wing says the time is right to ramp up its initial successes in the market to other locations.

Operating Like an Air Freight Company

One of the principles behind Wing’s operational model is what Woodworth refers to as an aircraft library. What this boils down to is the various different sizes and shapes of aeroplanes that air freight operators make use of for their shipments and cargoes. During the podcast interview Wing’s boss said that two and four-engined planes were used for specific functions. “On the delivery scale of drones, however,” he said, “this would translate to ferrying 2.5 pounds of cargo over a six mile-trip or conveying 15-pound cargoes for about 20 miles using larger drones.” Expanding on this idea, Woodworth said that the air freight model translates well to drone technology when you consider that urgent deliveries, such as medication, tend to be smaller and lighter even though they might need to be refrigerated to maintain their medicinal properties. However, he said that Wing’s experience demonstrated that larger loads don’t necessarily require the same levels of urgency so slower drones are more suited to those sorts of jobs.

As you might expect of a sister company of Google, acquiring real-world data has been one of the priorities of Wing’s operations in Texas over the last few months. Woodworth said that because of the amount of flying and testing time his company has already been able to complete, Wing has accumulated a huge amount of data on the core reusable systems that make a drone work. The information collected is already being deployed in newly developed AI algorithms to help with things like avionic systems, battery management, motor controllers and payloads, among other aspects of flying goods. Wing is already making a software system that will help it to choose the drone that will be best for each delivery job that comes in at lightning speed.

Drone Infrastructure

“The infrastructure for drone deliveries will have to be both simple and modular if it is to be a part of the future as we see it,” Woodworth said. Pointing to the company’s other, more recent activities in Australia, he said that Wing had installed drone infrastructure – known as nests – onto the roof of a shopping mall. This allows drones to land safely and to access the power they need to recharge. In addition, they connect to the internet without any human intervention to find out what their next delivery assignment might be. “That is the sort of level of infrastructure configuration that I think the future necessitates,” the technology CEO said.

Of course, the future of drone technology in last-mile deliveries is still uncertain. At the moment, Wing only has licenses to carry out its operations in Texas, Canberra and a location in the Finnish capital city of Helsinki. Nevertheless, Woodworth made it clear during his interview that he and the rest of Wing’s leadership team were focussed on expansion. “It isn’t going to be instant,” he warned. Instead, he said the model they were looking at would be more like adding one city here and another one there for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, in places where Wing does begin operating, he said that consumers could expect expanding zones of operation as drone technology improved. If and when a British city starts accepting Wing deliveries is still uncertain but one is for sure – few would currently bet on this sort of technology not becoming relatively normal in the UK within the next decade or so.

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In a press release, DPD said that it would be using branded robots in the field, ones that were part of an autonomous delivery system developed by Cartken. The idea is that the practical challenges of utilising robots to make real-world deliveries will be better understood as the project is monitored. According to the company’s statement, all of the robots involved will initially operate from DPD’s depot in Knowlhill. This will mean that the robotic carts will need to be able to get from there to the residential areas of Shenley Church End and Shenley Lodge, both a little under a mile from the depot.

Off-Road

Importantly, at this stage of the programme, the robots will not need to navigate the town’s road network. This is because Milton Keynes has a traffic-free network known as Redway. The unitary authority’s Redway network is used by pedestrians, cyclists, scooters and wheelchair users, however, so it is expected that the project will involve plenty of interactions between people and the autonomous robots involved in the experiment. Due to the AI technology that the robotic carts possess, machine learning will be involved so that the robots can master the routes they will need to move through on their own. The idea is that the depot will serve as the robots’ ‘home’ but they will need to rely on their own AI algorithms to find their way to the delivery addresses without further human intervention. That’s to say that the experiment is expected to be fully autonomously.

DPD’s UK CEO, Elaine Kerr, said that this is a really important trial for the British wing of the firm. “We would like to understand the role that robots could play in locations throughout the UK,” she said. Pointing out that delivery robots are a sustainable solution that doesn’t require fossil fuel consumption, she went on to add that DPD truly wants to find out whether such technology could help them to take vans off the road in the near future. Perhaps pre-empting the results of the trial Kerr said that the technology is proven and, thus far, the public’s response to the wider electric vehicle fleet DPD had been amazing.

Confidence

“I have confidence that our customers will embrace these smart robotic devices,” Kerr stated. Noting some concerns about the role of delivery drivers, she added that she thought it was not realistic to say that DPD would be completely replacing its human drivers anytime soon. “We wouldn’t want to do that anyway,” she said, stating that the service they already offer is ‘fantastic’. Nevertheless, the CEO emphasised the fact that DPD has always tried to take the lead on the way to innovate in logistics. “Investing in our network is the next logical step for us, both in terms of becoming the country’s most sustainable delivery company and the adoption of evolving delivery solutions.”

According to Cartken, its level 4 autonomy and navigation technology are more than up to the job. The firm says that it is viewed as one of the safest last mile delivery solution providers in the world. Currently, Cartken is among the market leaders in autonomous robotics for the courier sector. For example, its systems are currently being deployed by Mitsubishi, a Japanese automotive tech giant in its own right. Furthermore, Cartken has an existing commercial arrangement with one of the leading food delivery firms in the United States, GrubHub. So confident is Cartken in its UK partnership with DPD that a video showing an autonomous delivery robot being put through its paces in Milton Keynes – complete with DPD’s logo and livery – has already been released.

Notifications

Local recipients of parcels being sent by DPD to the two districts in Milton Keynes will be notified in advance that a robot will be making their delivery. At this point, the householder will be expected to advise the system that they are currently at home and in a position to take receipt of their delivery. Only then will the robotic cart be dispatched to convey their consignment to them on the final stage of its journey from the supplier. Indeed, DPD says that the service will allow customers to track the progress of their package more easily than is currently possible with human delivery operatives. The robots being used emit GPS data so that they can be tracked wherever they might be. The delivery system will, therefore, be able to display the progress of the robot on a map displayed on the customer’s computer or smartphone. Furthermore, an additional notification will be sent to the customer when the robot has reached their property and the goods inside the cart can be taken out.

Even the security measures needed to allow for this level of autonomy have been thought of. Cartken’s carts have a secure compartment inside them through which customers can access their delivery. The customer will be sent a code which will allow them to get inside. Once the compartment has been emptied and the door shut, the autonomous robotic cart will then be instructed to return to the depot so that it can make further deliveries. Should the trial prove to be successful, then DPD has already said that it would like to extend the autonomous final mile robotic solution to the rest of Milton Keynes. If so, this could mean that it will begin removing the firm’s delivery vans from the town’s road network.

Anjali Jindal Naik, Cartken’s Co-Founder and COO, said that the Milton Keynes trial constituted an exciting collaboration for parcel deliveries in the UK market. “We are thrilled to be a part of DPD’s sustainability plan,” she said, According to the COO, Carten’s robots are designed to provide sustainable solutions which can integrate seamlessly into the existing infrastructure of settlements like Milton Keynes. This trial is one of a number of green initiatives that DPD has announced in recent times. The courier company has already unveiled plans to ensure it is running over 3,000 electric vehicles on UK roads by the end of 2022. It has also said it will increase this figure to 5,000 electric vehicles by the following year.

Wider Autonomy

Elsewhere, the Co-Op Group has said it will also be trialling autonomous delivery robotics with a completely different system from the one developed by Cartken. In partnership with Bedford Borough Council, the Co-Op has said that three of its stores in the town will move to autonomous deliveries. According to the retailer, this means that up to 45,000 residents across some 20,000 residences in the area will be able to receive their grocery orders from a fleet of autonomous robots made by Starship Technologies. Co-Op stores and Starship – an Estonian firm with headquarters in California – already run some autonomous robot delivery services, so this is an expansion of their current programme. At the moment some Co-Op customers in Milton Keynes, Northampton and parts of Cambridgeshire can have their orders fulfilled by electrically powered, six-wheeled delivery robots.

According to the Co-Op, the stores that will take part in the Bedford autonomous trial are located in the Goldington, Queens Drive and Kempston areas of the market town. For its part, Starship says that its robots are powered by renewable electricity that has no carbon footprint. Unlike the DPD-Cartken model, Starship deals with the commercial side of the operation as well as the logistical one. Grocery orders from Co-Op stores are made with Starship’s own food delivery app. Then, the ordered items are picked as freshly as possible in the nearest Co-Op shop. According to data from the most recent app usage, groceries can be expected to arrive within one hour or less from an order being submitted.

In findings presented in a recently published industry report on autonomous robotics, the size of the delivery robot market in North America alone is expected to rise to around USD $20 million (£16 million) by the end of 2022. Many predict that it will likely double from this figure within the next five years. However, this will ultimately depend on the security and safety aspects of the various autonomous services currently being rolled out. Only when consumers are confident with such systems will they start to become the norm instead of the novelty that they currently are. Time will tell as to how this will impact on traditional last mile delivery services, of course. However, many investors in autonomous tech are betting that robots are going to be playing an ever more substantial role in the years to come.

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The fact is that dash cams are increasingly useful for all sorts of drivers, not just people who drive for a living. However, it must be underlined that not all dash cams provide the same level of functionality, nor of picture quality. On the other hand, there are some very expensive models on the market that can be overkill for the average commercial driver. Read on to find out more about the current crop of dash cam models and which ones are best suited to professional driving jobs. Here’s our top six.

1. Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2

Firstly, this particular dash cam may not be as highly specified as others on this list but it sure packs a punch for the price it comes in at. Shop around for a deal because different retailers will have it at different prices. That said, this unit is ideal for professional drivers who want something that they can start using to monitor their work without a great deal of set-up time or technical know-how. It records video in 1080p quality which is more than adequate for most drivers and a format that means it can be viewed quite clearly on a range of different devices. The Dash Cam Mini 2 is small, as well, so it can be fitted behind your rearview mirror meaning that it won’t get in the way of your paperwork and other devices on the dashboard of your van or lorry. The viewing angle offered is a generous 140° which is fine for most front-facing applications. All the footage is collected on a Micro SD card that you can switch around with others and download to an external device when it is convenient. Although it doesn’t have its own power source and lacks a display for instantaneous playback, the Garmin Mini 2 is an excellent choice as a first dash cam investment.

2. Viofo A129 Pro Duo

A Chinese manufacturer, Viofo is not that well established in the UK but its products sell well in Asia and North America. This is a professional product that works in two directions, hence the name Pro Duo, of course. Drivers of larger goods vehicles who want to track what is going on when they are reversing would be well advised to check out just how much functionality this single unit offers compared to buying two separate dash cams. It also helps to monitor what is going on when courier drivers have the back doors of their van or lorry open to unload. Yes, it is more expensive than other models on this list but the A129 offers great value for money when you consider its bi-directional functionality. 140° footage is afforded in both directions. Recordings are made in 4K high definition onto Micro SD cards although, like the Garmin, these are not supplied with the unit. With crisp video capturing capabilities, the Pro Duo also includes a GPS tracking system, a good thing to know from the point of view of security and also when driver monitoring is wanted. This means it is a good choice for fleet managers. One drawback worth mentioning is the Viofo’s bulkiness, so it tends to suit larger vehicles rather than smaller ones.

3. Vantrue N2 Pro

Unlike a number of the other dash cams listed here, the Vantrue N2 Pro is a truly professional unit. This means that it has not been designed with general motorists in mind but for trade users only. Although this is implied by the name of the dash cam, this model’s credentials as a pro unit shouldn’t be underestimated. Why? Because the N2 Pro is geared up for longer drives and for drivers who will want to get the best out of their dash cam at all times. Firstly, it offers a respectable – if not market-leading – field of vision of 310°. Secondly, this unit records very well in nighttime conditions. This means it can handle street lighting as well as darkness without compromising on the picture quality. Equally, the unit will turn itself on when it detects movements near to it. As such, it offers a great deal of security even when your van or lorry is parked up and not moving. Another distinguishing factor is that the N2 Pro has a long warranty period. In addition, it comes with a GPS tracker for even more peace of mind.

4. Nextbase 622 GW

Founded in the late 1990s, Nextbase is the world’s largest manufacturer of dash cams and related technologies. Based in the UK, one of the best products the firm has ever produced for professional users is the 622 GW. This particular unit is the top of the line dash cam in Nextbase’s rather extensive range. It doesn’t give anything away to the Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 or the Viofo A129 Pro Duo in terms of video quality. You can record in 4K or alter the settings to save more space on your memory card, as preferred. You can also benefit from the same 140° wide-angle footage capture which means the road ahead and the periphery is recorded well. A GPS tracker is also included as standard, so this is another unit worth fleet managers checking out in greater detail. What makes the 622 GW stand out, however, is its what3words capability which is built into each unit. If you – or your customers – use that system, then this is probably the best dash cam on the market right now. Please also note that this dash cam supports Amazon’s virtual assistant, Alexa, ideal for obtaining information without having to take your hands off the wheel. You can transfer collected footage by Wi-Fi and operate the unit via its touchscreen when you’re not driving, of course. One problem with the 622 GW is that its supposed smartphone app isn’t that intuitive to use.

5. Nextbase 522 GW

If you like the idea of the Nextbase 622 GW but are put off by its rather hefty price tag, then there is an alternative. The 522 GW offers a great deal of the functionality of the newer 622 GW but it is considerably less expensive. Although it is a bit older than its sister product, the 522 GW offers 140° footage from its front-facing camera and an integrated GPS tracker system. The video quality is a bit lower than the 622 GW coming in at 1440p. As such, it offers a sufficiently high enough quality for all but the most demanding of situations. Like the other dash cams mentioned above, the recording is held on a Micro SD card but this is not provided. It also has Alexa integration built into the unit, allowing you to stop and start recordings with straightforward voice commands, for example. However, you won’t get the aforementioned what3words functionality. A cool feature that ought to be highlighted is that the 522 GW will signal the emergency services under certain conditions. If it thinks you’ve been involved in a crash and that you have been unresponsive since then, it will generate an SOS alert of its own accord.

6. Nexar Pro

The Nexar Pro is a good choice if you want a reasonably priced option that provides you with footage from the front as well as the rear of your commercial vehicle. Suited to cars, vans and trucks, this unit has differing picture qualities. Expect 1080p footage from the front-facing camera while the rear-facing one will offer you 720p recording quality. That’s not too much of a compromise for most users. Another good thing to note about the Nexar Pro is that it comes with its own internal memory. As such, you can use it out of the box without having to purchase memory cards separately. You get 32 MB as standard but this is upgradeable if you think you will need more. The viewing angle both cameras afford is 135° so this unit is pretty strong as an all-rounder. Where it excels, however, is with self-installation because it is simple to fit and to run the wires it needs without much of a problem even if you are a novice. You have to use your smartphone to download video footage which is backed up in the cloud. One problem that some users face is when the camera sticks to the windscreen. All in all, it is a strong contender, however.

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Interestingly, TEG points out that the average price per mile of road haulage has dipped a little compared with June 2021. However, the increased costs associated with recruitment and retention in the industry – as other sectors continue to compete for drivers and other types of workers – have meant that most courier firms have upped their fees. Remember that in some locations, price hikes are even higher than the national average, usually because of a dearth of personnel if not because of fuel prices themselves. Of course, the average price of fuel has underpinned many of the decisions courier firm bosses have made about how much to charge their clients in what remains a competitive marketplace. That said, an annual price increase of 8.7 per cent is unprecedented in many people’s professional lifetimes in the road freight transportation industry.

As for now, it should be pointed out that last month’s average price per mile charge among both haulage lorries and lighter courier vans, was 18 per cent more than it was just three years ago. With the latest figures, it is also possible to determine what many in the industry would recognise anecdotally, that prices are at their highest level so far this year. The median price per mile that TEG’s index recorded stood at 122.0 in June since the index had begun collating data. It had been at 103.1 points in the same month in 2019. In the first six months of 2022 alone, 4.3 points have been added to the index. It should be noted, however, that much of this increase took place in the first quarter of the year, a possible sign that price inflation may be starting to level out. Certainly, this appears to be the case among haulage firms because these companies experienced more modest growth. Overall, the index reveals that courier firms’ pricing is tracking above the level of the road freight industry as a whole.

According to Lyall Cresswell, who is the Chief Executive Officer at TEG, operational costs from ongoing driver shortages and fuel costs are mostly what are accounting for the increases in prices. “We hear about road transportation industry issues every day from our members”, the CEO said before adding that he thought they were coping admirably with the pressures on them at the moment given the shifting landscape in the sector. “With consumer confidence at all-time lows,” he said, “We may well see a downturn in demand for the services of road freight companies.” Citing the idea that fewer people would be shopping online at the cost of living crisis deepens, he said this might be a blessing in disguise.

According to Creswell, offering the industry a little breathing room might not be such a bad thing if consumers choose to spend less ordering items from e-commerce platforms. He said that this may soften the impact of driver shortages, something that could stabilise wage growth in the sector and also mean that supply chain bottlenecks could be cleared. Admitting that no one truly knows what the future has in store for couriers and haulage firms, Creswell said that TEG would be ‘very keen’ to see an operational cost reduction that would benefit essential fuel customers. “There is no question that hauliers and couriers are both essential users [of fuel],” he said. Such a move, he suggested, would consequently offer a respite in the road transport industry as well as helping consumers.

Whether or not a dip in demand or a lowering of fuel tax will help to ease the burden that courier firms and hauliers now face is yet to be seen, of course. What the industry knows is that the current hike in the prices hauliers and couriers are charging can only be seen in the light of record-high fuel prices in the UK. Prices of 167 pence per litre for petrol and 180 pence per litre for diesel would once have seemed unimaginable but they are now the norm and, in some cases, good forecourt prices where they are to be found. So, with both fuel prices and wider consumer inflation continuing to soar, road freight firms have been dealing with an ever-worsening squeeze on their profitability. Some have even seen margins so tight that they’ve been operating at a loss. As such, they have been left with little choice but to put the price of their services up.

What is perhaps even more telling from last month’s TEG index figures is that prices have climbed consistently every month. Indeed, it has been this way since the start of 2021. Therefore, although there may be some levelling out as the market adjusts to new levels of demand – particularly among haulage firms, if not couriers – few would bet against another month-on-month upturn in the current quarter. After all, this would reflect the wider cost pressures building in the road freight industry including rising pay demands, greater vehicle costs and increasing interest payments on loans. There again, a hike in road transportation firms’ national insurance payments is also expected to be an upward pressure on the prices companies set.

The Road Haulage Association, which represents a significant number of operators in the sector backed up TEG’s findings. According to that body, fuel makes up over a third of a commercial vehicle’s operating costs. Given that profit margins between one and two per cent is common in the industry, any shift in the operating costs a road haulage firm faces from fuel needs to be translated into increased prices almost immediately to avoid eating into such tight margins. As the association puts it, every penny counts because even slight fluctuations in fuel prices will have a big impact on hauliers’ bottom lines. The Road Haulage Association has also echoed TEG’s CEO in his call for an essential user rebate on fuel duty. They say that this move would cut fuel costs for haulage firms and, in the end, mean that the end consumer would enjoy lower pricing for goods.

Indeed, according to a statement issued by the industry group, relief from runaway inflation in the haulage industry is becoming increasingly urgent. They cited the National Institute of Economic and Social Research which pointed out that almost two-thirds of the UK public were currently seeing total household bills were higher than their income. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also recently reported that fuel retailers were already passing on the five pence fuel duty cut despite some misgivings about this among consumers. The CMA’s work allayed some fears that fuel retailers had simply been profiteering by not passing on cuts since the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, announced the reduction in duty.

Among the calls for further action was one from Kirsten Tisdale, Aricia Limited’s Director of Logistics Consultants and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. Speaking about the latest index figures from TEG she said that the upturn in pricing continues to offer insights into where the UK freight market has been for some time and where it remains today. “The pressure on the profits of firms in the road transport sector… can be seen in the latest Business Insights survey.”

Produced by the Office for National Statistics, Tisdale pointed out that one in eight of the responses in the survey among transportation and storage businesses showed they were having to seek financial interventions just to get by. “This was up from zero in the previous survey where this question was put to them,” she said. According to Tisdale, this issue has been worsened by the recent trend among British firms to stockpile more than they used to due to supply chain problems outside of their control.

Until the government is re-established and a long-term Chancellor takes up his or her role at number 11 Downing Street, it is not yet known whether a further tax cut in fuel duty for essential users – and others – will come about. That said, the majority of candidates have committed to the idea of cutting taxes in some way. Whether or not fuel duty will be among these cuts is unknown, however. One thing is for sure. This is that TEG’s price index will continue to offer a valuable tool for determining how much fuel and wage costs are affecting the industry as 2022 progresses.

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Postage Stamp-Style Tracing Tags Developed

One of the big problems for firms handling packages is that the sort of tracking technology that has thus far been deployed has been bulky. As such, the search for something as flat and discreet as a postage stamp has long been sought-after among tech companies as a simple solution to the problem of tracing lower-value items that are despatched in smaller quantities. Now, even envelope-sized consignments should be able to be traced on their journeys around the world thanks to the latest invention of an Israeli supply-chain technology company known as Wiliot.

Wiliot announced in June that it had not only made small tracking tags that could be used with conventional supermarket crates instead of entire truckloads of goods or shipping containers but that it had also struck its first commercial deal for their use. According to the company’s announcement, its first big customer is a supermarket chain named Shufersal, the largest grocery retailer in Israel. The entire company will be making use of the tag-based tracking system to trace much of its produce as it makes its way from farms and suppliers to its stores. Shufersal is now heavily invested in tracing its products from their various sources to each supermarket it runs. What’s more, showing the location of the goods is not the only thing the postage stamp-style tags are good for. According to Wiliot, their technology can measure temperature changes – ideal for perishable goods, of course – as well as numerous other factors that may have an impact on the freshness of goods in transit.

Based in Caesarea, the Israeli tech company is just one of an increasing number of start-ups that are choosing to develop tools aimed at the courier delivery and logistical sectors. They clearly see that monitoring goods as they pass through the various stages of both supply chain and distribution channels is something that the market wants. Importantly, Wiliot’s executives reckon that its system uses devices that are small and inexpensive enough to produce that it won’t just be supermarket chains with fresh goods that will soon be making use of them. The company has already gone on the record to say that it thinks that couriers who ship crates, as well as larger agriculture carriers, will want to adopt the system to offer their clients more accurate and up-to-date information at every stage of the delivery process.

Although Wiliot is currently only working with Shufersal as its primary commercial partner, executives at the firm said that they expect to move into other condition and time-sensitive distribution sectors soon. Many in the logistical industry in Israel have already interpreted this as an ambition to move into the pharmaceuticals and textiles sectors next, both in the domestic market and globally. One commentator suggested that because the tags are roughly the size of postage stamps but contain all-important microprocessors that can provide the required information on Shufersal’s produce crates, they will prove their value in numerous markets. Although, initially at least, they will track fruit and vegetables from farms to store shelves, they can also be deployed for individual consignments of drugs and clothing orders.

Improved Operations?

According to Wiliot, the tiny nature of their devices is the key attribute that makes the traceability system work at the operational level. Indeed, they say it has the goal of solving something of a problem that many supply chain managers face every day. Today, the progress – or otherwise – of many groceries is tracked with larger devices that are placed into shipping containers or individual trucks. However, this means that what happens when goods are unloaded is often not fully traceable as individual crates are split up from one another, perhaps because they’re being sent to different stores or even placed onto alternative shelves within shops.

According to Stephen Statler, the senior vice president of marketing at Wiliot, ordinary and everyday items – such as clothing, vaccine vials, plastic pallets, cardboard boxes and bags of salad – can all be traced thanks to the novel tags because they are linked to the internet. He said that one of the exciting things about this technology was that, like postage stamps, the tags don’t need battery power to work. However, they make use of Bluetooth wireless technology to send information to authorised personnel via the internet. Speaking to the press, Mr Statler said that he reckoned the tags would eventually fall in price to much less than the cost of a stamp and would end up being in the region of 10 cents, about 8 pence.

According to some academics in the United States who have been taking an interest in Wiliot’s technology, the system could do more than provide a better tracking method for retailers and suppliers of perishable goods, however. For example, one professor at Penn State University, Mark Capofari, who specialises in supply chain issues, commented that he thought greater visibility in the industry would solve many of the problems the sector faces right now. He cited the current inability to fully track smaller consignments of food, something that leads to operational inefficiencies and, in the worst cases, to food waste. He also suggested greater transparency in the sector might lead to fewer personnel costs for courier firms. Certainly, Wiliot has not been shy in making the case for less theft and wastage of goods thanks to more accurate traceability, something they think is one of the system’s major plus points.

Blockchain Technology and the Logistics Industry

Although the use of blockchain technology is often mostly associated with the world of cryptocurrencies – in order to create a publicly verifiable account of ownership of digital assets – it can also be deployed in the supply chain sector to great effect. One way that some suppliers are using blockchains is to generate a so-called digital passport for products so that when they leave their warehouse, they can be more easily tracked at each stage of their journey. Digital passports that are held in a blockchain include information on where products are now, to whom they have been sold as well as when and how they were made. The tracing functionality that blockchains have means that end consumers can be more readily assured that they are buying products that are the genuine article and what they claim to be.

Of course, this is a great thing for suppliers of high-end and one-of-a-kind items that would like to prove the provenance of their goods. However, it isn’t just top brands that can benefit from blockchains in the supply chain in this way. For example, companies that promote themselves on shared ethical values might want to provide evidence that they are operating properly. Blockchains allow them to trace goods from their origin so they can prove they’ve been traded fairly, for example, and not interfered with or exchanged for unethical goods in the supply chain. Overall, like Wiliot’s technology, the basic idea is to help companies to become more transparent in what they are doing, thereby establishing greater levels of trust with their customers.

For some, this is less to do with the origin of a product or commodity but the way in which it is handled by the supply side operations themselves. In other words, courier firms and logistics companies that have invested in sustainable fuels and more ecologically sound vehicle technology now have the blockchain technology at their disposal to provide a more trackable service to their clients that proves the goods they handle are being dealt with sustainably. For instance, blockchains are already being used to trace the carbon emissions associated with individual consignments as they make their way around the world including the last-mile delivery process.

This has led some to ask whether Wiliot’s tacking system – or something like it – will soon help to make all consumer shipments, no matter how small, as traceable as entire container loads. Zvika Fishheimer, Shufersal’s executive vice president, certainly seems to think so. He said that the capacity to see the progress of every crate of fruit and vegetables in real-time was nothing short of revolutionary. Indeed, he thinks that tracking that such items are being maintained at the right temperature throughout the entire delivery process has the potential to change the industry forever. With more traceable goods on offer to consumers and more trust in them thanks to blockchain verification processes along the way, it is hard to argue with this sort of sentiment today. Given that wasted food alone costs the global economy an estimated $940 billion each year – about £770 million – any operational efficiency improvements at a time of increasing household financial pressures are likely to be very welcome indeed.

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When it began trading, the Berlin-based start-up seemed to be at the very heart of the last mile delivery business during various periods of lockdown across Europe in 2020 and 2021. Unlike the likes of Deliveroo or Uber Eats, however, Gorillas’ offering was somewhat unique insofar as it made use of so-called dark stores. From the customer’s perspective, they would receive their order as though a Gorillas employee had been to their local supermarket and found everything that was needed on the shelf, only to pay for it at the checkout and get it to the client within about 10 minutes. However, Gorillas’ business rationale meant that it used dark stores – distribution centres and shops that aren’t open to the general public – to fulfil locally placed orders more rapidly than would be possible by heading to a store.

Despite its initial rapid growth as a start up enterprise, Gorillas announced in May that it would be pulling out of several trading territories in Europe altogether for the time being. In a statement, the company said that this would allow it to focus its attention on what it regarded as its key markets more closely. Crucially, for anyone working for Gorillas at the moment, the company said that the UK remained one of its most important markets. In its statement, Gorillas executives said that the firm was currently moving from a “hyper-growth” model that it had been used to for the previous 24 months to one that offered a clearer “path to profitability”. Clearly, such as move has raised eyebrows in the sector because the once all-conquering Gorillas seemed to be able to do no wrong. So, is the change something to do with the way Gorillas is set up or does this move say something about the wider grocery delivery sector as a whole?

Gorillas’ announcement came with the news that it had decided to shed about 300 jobs from its global workforce. “With this difficult decision,” Gorillas’ statement read, “[We are]… ensuring that we strengthen our position in the long term, both strategically and financially.” The firm also said that its move came as a result of a difficult economic period for the tech industry as a whole. It is understood that the majority of the jobs being lost are those in the company’s German headquarters in Berlin, perhaps offering an indication that the move is more to do with the technological side of the business rather than the delivery aspects of its service. That said, on top of the German staff cuts, Gorillas said it intending on ceasing its current operations in Spain, Denmark, Italy and Belgium altogether. This indicates that the success – or otherwise – of its business model hasn’t always been evenly distributed in different markets. “Gorillas will now focus on five strategic markets,” the statement read. Along with the UK, these will be made up of Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United States.

It may not be that surprising that Gorillas has made the move to limit its backroom staff and the territories it operates in for a time when you consider that in the region of 90 per cent of the company’s turnover is generated from the five markets it intends continuing to offer services in. In short, the strategy appears to be focusing on trying to achieve a profitable business model in those countries rather than trying to achieve market dominance at a loss in places that haven’t necessarily seen the value in Gorillas’ business model. Perhaps the decision-makers at Gorillas have looked at the way other delivery tech startups have invested so heavily to achieve market penetration that they haven’t always given sufficient attention as to when spending should stop and profit generation ought to begin. It is also worth noting that when Gorillas first got going in 2020, it was one of a number of rapid delivery start ups that responded to the pandemic and the public’s demand for groceries without having to attend stores in person. Gorillas might have started out with some competitors in its chosen marketplace but it certainly seems to have gained the greatest reputation among them as the leading brand.

Gorillas’ growth has undeniably been rapid even though it may not have grown as evenly across Europe as it might have liked. After it achieved such spectacular inward investment last year, Gorillas’ publicly shared valuation had reached an enormous $3.1 billion (£2.5 billion) which constituted a remarkable feat for any company that was only in its second year of trading. Nevertheless, as many industry commentators have observed, while large amounts of investment have been thrown at various delivery service start ups operating in the rapid delivery market since the pandemic struck, operating profitably has remained a significant challenge across the entire sector. For some, as the leading light in the sector, Gorillas may have had the furthest to fall, not least because of the great expectations that it continues to inspire among investors. Indeed, despite the fact that it has raised so much investment in such a short period, some have said that the company faces significant debt liabilities with some of its key suppliers. One report cited a monthly expenditure of up to $75 million (£60 million) just to handle its cash flow situation with its suppliers.

It should also be noted that Gorillas is just one of numerous technology firms that have decided to take organisational steps to protect them from changing consumer demands in the light of the so-called cost of living crisis. Other companies that have felt the heat of harsher economic times include the buy-now-pay-later Swedish fintech business Klarna. It announced that it would be cutting 10 per cent of its employees about the same time as Gorillas made its announcement. There again, Hopin, the London-based online events platform, said that it had decided to shed at least 12 per cent of its staff earlier in the year. More direct competitors with Gorillas, such as Deliveroo and Just Eat, also faced some financially challenging times. JP Morgan downgraded stock valuations in both firms – Deliveroo dropped by 1.4 per cent, or 1.24 pence, to 85.92 pence per share in May while Just Eat’s valuation fell by 0.8 per cent, or 14.2 pence, to 1,706 pence per share in the same period. The investment bank cited a lack of consumer funds for takeaways and delivery services as the reason for its decision.

Of course, how such changing macroeconomic conditions will affect Gorillas – and other operators in the last mile grocery sector – remains to be seen. One academic, Sianne Ngai from the University of Chicago, warned that firms with gimmicky business models could be in for difficulties as household budgets tighten. Speaking to the British press, the cultural historian noted how quickly things had changed for Gorillas. “Everyone was a winner when everyone had access to capital… when trillions of dollars had been injected into the global economy,” she said. “As many companies enjoyed high valuations, [at that time]… this was favourable for Gorillas, as well.” However, Ngai noted that the global markets had been turned on their heads in March and had continued to worsen since then. She noted that cautiousness was what was driving markets and that tech companies, particularly those with low or negative margins, faced a strong economic headwind. As such, Gorillas decision to concentrate its efforts on only certain markets may be the right response to a changing world economy.

If investors are now looking for lower-risk but more profitable businesses, Gorillas – and others in the technology-based last mile delivery sector – will only have a short period of time to alter their business models, shifting from a time of rapid expansion and attempt to gain market dominance to that of profitability. Based on its public recent announcements, this appears to be exactly what Gorillas is trying to do. Few will be able to ignore how successful Gorillas may be in pulling this off given its spectacularly meteoric rise in the sector.

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Working as a self-employed van driver can be an exhilarating and fun way to earn a living. The job comes with many great benefits such as having a flexible schedule that allows for you to arrange your working time when it suits you best. In fact, the demand for self-employed couriers or van drivers has never been higher than it is now. Large companies like Amazon, eBay and other internet retailers are all looking towards self-employed van drivers to deliver packages to their clients. However, as is the case with every job, there are also a few downsides to being a self-employed delivery driver. Luckily, there are plenty of gadgets that delivery drivers can use to make their job that much easier. In this post, we will be taking a closer look at some of the must have accessories that every delivery driver should invest in.

Navigation System:Whether you use your trusty smartphone and Google Maps or a dedicated GPS unit to the to get around town, navigation is an absolute must have for every delivery driver. Having a accurate and easy to use navigation solution makes it easier to get around town and complete your deliveries quickly and efficiently. Since not all navigation devices are created equally, it is important to make sure that you check the specifications of the device that you are interested in. For example, does it come with free map updates? Does it offer real-time traffic updates? Does it allow you to avoid specific routes or areas? All of these functions come in handy at one point or another and you might kick yourself later down the line for not having them.

Phone Mount:As a courier and responsible driver, road safety should always be your first concern. This is why it is always a good idea to invest in a mobile phone holder that will allow you to securely mount your phone while you are driving. It is best to opt for a phone mount that can be fitted to your vehicle’s dashboard so that your mobile is always in your eye line. This way, you do not have to take your eyes off the road when you need to consult your navigation system. However, it is important to remember to not use your phone for texts or other distracting activities while driving as this can cause you to lose focus and might lead to an accident. Investing in an universal phone mount is also a good option because you will not need to change phone mounts later when you get a new phone.

1. Phone Charger or External Battery: For many couriers, their phone is their lifeblood. Despatchers often contact couriers by phone to arrange deliveries and many use their phones as their primary navigational tool. For this reason, it is essential that mobile phones never run out of battery. Having a good external power bank or reliable car charger on hand can make all the difference in keeping your device charged and ready to go when you need it most. When choosing an external battery, opt for one with a large enough capacity to fully recharge your phone at least once. Prices for external battery banks have dropped significantly in recent times and this affordable accessory can be a true lifesaver in times of need.
2. Proper Clothing: As the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing. This is especially true when it comes to couriers since self-employed delivery drivers often have to work in unforgiving weather conditions such as cold, rain and snow. Being dressed properly for the weather makes it much easier to do your job effectively and keeps you from getting a chill or flu. In addition, being dressed professionally sends a message to your clients that says that you are serious about your job and that you can be trusted. First impressions count and getting repeat customers is much easier when you look the part.
3. Dash Cam: While things generally goes smoothly, problems are unavoidable and will rear their head at some point. This is especially true when it comes to traffic and since courier drivers spend a lot of time behind the wheel, the chances of being involved in an accident is higher. Installing a dash cam in your vehicle gives you an extra layer of security and makes it easier to finalise insurance claims when an accident does happen. Installing a dash cam can even lead to a reduction in your insurance premium and they act as an objective witness when you need one most. Dash cams are not very expensive and this small improvement can give you a lot of peace of mind.
4. Lower Back Support: Operating a vehicle all day long can wreak havoc on your back and adding something as simple as a lower back pillow to your arsenal of tools can make it much easier to get through busy days. This is especially important for couriers who often work with heavy packages and drive long distances. After all, investing in your health is the best investment that you can make.
5. Hydration: Remaining hydrated as you go about your deliveries is essential for your health and to keep your energy levels up. Carrying a thermally insulated metal water bottle with you will ensure that you always have access to cool water. This can be a lifesaver on a warm day when you have several different deliveries to complete. In addition, using a reusable metal bottle cuts down on plastic waste and protects the environment, which is a great benefit for everyone.
6. Sunglasses :A good pair of sunglasses is an indispensable tool for every courier. Being out and about all day long in bright sunlight can harm your vision and sunglasses with UV protection is a good way to eliminate the harmful effects of the sun and they make you look more dapper when going about your deliveries!

These are just a few of the basic items that a self-employed van driver can use to make doing their job easier and most of the items on the list are not extraordinarily expensive items but they can make a big difference. However, it is not only gadgets that can make it easier for couriers, simple lifestyle changes are just as important. Working as a self-employed van driver can be a great source of income and a very engaging and enjoyable job but it is also hard work and requires a lot of energy. This is why it is important for every courier to ensure that they make enough time for meal breaks and that they take care of their nutritional needs. Being self-employed, most courier drivers do not have benefits such as sick leave and this is why it is important to do everything that you can to ensure that you always remain in tip-top shape. Driving all day long in busy city streets can be stressful and places a large strain on your mental capabilities. Taking a short break every now and again gives your brain the chance to take a breather and makes sure that you are always 100% focussed when driving.

In Conclusion:

Using the above gadgets and tips can make your job as a courier much easier and allows you to work more efficiently. The self-employed van driver market is already fiercely competitive and couriers need advantage that they can get to rise above the competition. Adding these gadgets to your arsenal makes it easier to get more deliveries done without breaking the bank.

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