From the weekly market to the village: drones deliver groceries

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No more village store, no more "Späti" on the corner? In the north-west of Brandenburg, delivery drones are now being used to supply residents in remote villages with groceries. In the municipality of Wusterhausen/Dosse in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, a test funded by the federal government is due to begin this Friday: Vegetables, fruit, cakes and bread, for example, will then be delivered by air. In southern Brandenburg, the first drones are also taking off from Welzow airfield to deliver paper mail. There could be one obstacle: For safety reasons, the aircraft should not take off in strong winds and thunderstorms.

Various providers are constantly testing the use of drones to supply households in rural areas from the air. Last year, a pilot project was launched in the Odenwald region of southern Hesse to deliver groceries in combination with a cargo bike. Despite a number of experiments and research projects, it remains unclear when drones could also become part of many people's everyday lives. Regular operation is not yet planned in the retail sector or at Deutsche Post.

"Marktschwalbe" on the move with orders from the weekly market

In the experiment in Wusterhausen, drones are delivering goods from traders at the weekly market to three districts up to 12 kilometers away, according to the project coordinator, the Berlin-based company Luftlabor. At least a dozen households are to test the "Marktschwalbe" (Market Swallow) free of charge. Four drones are available for this purpose, which can also take off in light wind and light rain, said Managing Director Robin Kellermann. Orders are placed online and by telephone.

The purchase should not be too heavy: The aircraft can carry up to three kilos in a box. The groceries ordered from the weekly market are not delivered directly to the front door. The test customers in the small villages have to pick up the goods at fixed points where the drone also lands.

Postal delivery by drone

Brandenburg's Minister of Economic Affairs Jörg Steinbach (SPD) also wants to accompany the first drone flight with paper mail at Welzow airfield (Spree-Neiße district) on Friday. Delivery vehicles are to be equipped with the automatically flying devices. They will then use a 5G network connection to cover the final route to the recipient. One aim is to avoid time-consuming trips to remote villages.

DHL is not planning regular operations with drones

The food trade is open to new solutions, as Michael Reink, Head of Location and Transport Policy at the German Retail Association, said when asked. "Whether and when regular goods deliveries by drone will become established in Germany cannot be predicted at present." So far, drones have been used for urgent deliveries such as medicines with a low weight, according to Reink. "However, the technical leaps have been enormous, meaning that heavier parcels can now also be transported by drone."

Deutsche Post also used a so-called parcel copter for a few years for test purposes and research. Medicines were flown to the North Sea island of Juist and to the German Alps, for example. "All research projects have been completed, further projects with the DHL Paketkopter or regular operations for parcel delivery in Germany are currently not planned," the logistics company DHL announced.

(mho)