When it comes to logistic technology, last mile logistics and drone delivery are pretty delicate topics. Freightos, an online marketplace for shipment, has just released its 2017 Q2 LogTech Report, providing a unique and valuable insight into how exactly the development of logistics influences the industry.

Logistic Technology Trends

In the second half of June, Amazon and Alibaba held conferences in the US, where they appealed to small and medium-sized businesses to use their platform for sales. Even though Alibaba advocated its sales to China and Amazon its cross-border imports of goods, both are clearly heading towards the market of small and medium-sized businesses. Transparency and traceability of shipments seem to be a major requirement for carriers, as confirmed by a number of companies implementing technologies for tracking individual shipments. Last mile logistics using drones still remains relatively hot soil. Meanwhile, Uber Freight has formally launched its product, but continues to face strong competition from startup truck carriers.

However, the year’s quarter ended with a rather unpleasant episode for digitization, when a global cyber attack called Petya infiltrated the Maersk Line and caused a few days of downtime.

Amazon

By 2021, Amazon will have over half of the US e-commerce market dominated, gradually increasing from its current 34% market share. Another challenge will be to export this success beyond the US border by increasing its (currently 6.6%) share in imports to China and thus investing in infrastructure to meet the growing Chinese middle class.

As far as the last mile logistics is concerned, Amazon is about to recruit an army of 10,000 independent couriers for delivery on the order day for Japan. It is also intensively concerned with the question of how autonomous vehicles can be beneficial for business.

Truck Transport

After the first pictures of excavating tunnels were unveiled at the beginning of this year’s quarter, Elon Musk published a vision of a multi-layered underground tunnel system to reduce surface traffic. The quarter closed with a tweet that the first lift that would deliver trucks to the tunnels is complete.

According to some observers, the entry of Uber into the shipping market may be quite challenging due to the relatively strong competitors in the industry that have a relatively advanced technological background, and mainly the legal fight with Google’s Waymo (which has already published its own autonomous trucks). This situation is in favor of the competitors who can concentrate on their development and economic growth.

Robotics

Locus Robotics, a start-up focusing on warehouse robotics, established by former employees after Amazon merged with KIVA, introduced a faster autonomous system for warehouses with robot-to-robot communication. This company’s robots are used by leading dealers and carriers such as DHL. Taking on even more automated storage solutions, RightHand Robotics develops robots capable of picking up and packing boxes.