DSV Canada to employ DDC drone at Milton HQ

Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) has entered into a commercial agreement with DSV Air & Sea Canada to deploy DDC’s drone delivery platform with the Canadian arm of the global transport and logistics company DSV Panalpina.

Initial deployment will be at DSV Air & Sea Canada’s new head office and warehouse in Milton, Ontario.

Under the terms of the agreement, DDC will deploy its Sparrow cargo drone, in addition to its DroneSpot take-off and landing zones and other drone flight infrastructure on DSV sites.

Sparrow has a payload capacity of 10 lbs. It will operate initially for DSV on a defined flight route within the forwarder’s site at Milton.

All operations will be conducted in accordance with Canadian Aviation Regulations and Transport Canada flight authorisations.

Flights will be remotely monitored by DDC from its new commercial operations centre at Vaughan, Ontario.

DDC has confirmed that it will begin deployment of site infrastructure this quarter and look to begin drone delivery services under the agreement in the first quarter of next year.

It said that there is the potential for 20 or more routes being introduced in 2020 to add to this initial routeing.

Michael Zahra, president & chief executive of DDC, commented: “DSV is a global leader in the logistics space and a perfect fit as a scalable customer for us.

“They will start using our proven Sparrow drone, patented FLYTE system, and newly launched commercial operations centre in early 2020.”

He added that DDC has a “very strong funnel of global commercial opportunities and we expect to see continued sales announcements in 2019 for deployment in early 2020”.

DSV will pay DDC a monthly fee for each drone route that goes into action. The initial term of the agreement is 15 months, with additional successive one-year terms to follow unless the agreement is formally terminated by either party.

“DSV Canada is dedicated to delivering innovative and integrated supply chain solutions,” observed Martin Roos, managing director of DSV Air & Sea Canada.

“With a global view in mind, our focus is on continuously optimising our local partners’ supply chains.

“That means a long-term vision that opens up new markets and service offerings.  Our strong partnership with Air Canada Cargo and now DDC will offer our current and potential partners best-in-class solutions and service excellence that is scalable and futureproof.

“We have looked to overcome some of today’s challenges by investing in tomorrow’s opportunities, and we are ready for the next steps,” Roos added.

The DDC/DSV deal was agreed with the help of Air Canada. In June, it was confirmed that Air Canada had signed a sales agency agreement with DDC to market the latter’s commercial services in its home country.

The carrier’s cargo arm thus acts as a sales agent of DDC.