Qingdao pioneers smart island logistics with drone cargo flights

Two cargo drones took off from Qingdao West Coast New Area's Jimiya Fishing Port and Lingshan Island, respectively, and landed safely after a 10-minute flight on Feb 27. This marked the first-ever normalized low-altitude logistics flight in a northern island area.

Onlookers gather to witness the first-ever normalized low-altitude logistics flight in a northern island area. [Photo/WeChat account: qdxihaianfabu]

This inaugural flight aimed to show innovative practices integrating the low-altitude economy with marine environments and establish a replicable model for smart island logistics.

The Lingshan Island provincial nature reserve management committee, in collaboration with Qingdao Cloud Century Information Technology Co Ltd, has established the first normalized air transportation route for low-altitude logistics in northern islands. During the flight event, Qingdao Cloud Century signed agreements on-site with eight logistics companies to jointly develop this low-altitude logistics route. The route would allow emergency supplies weighing less than or equal to 20 kilograms, important documents, fresh seafood, and other high-efficiency categories of air express services to be transported between Jimiya Port and Lingshan Island in a mere 10 minutes.

Expanding use cases of low-altitude logistics transport for island areas not only provides more delivery options for residents but also serves as an effective supplement to maritime shipping between islands, bringing greater convenience to island residents.

As a new attempt at achieving commercialized large-scale operations of island low-altitude logistics, this agreement sets a paradigm for upgrading logistics in special use cases such as islands and mountainous regions nationwide through the ecological integration of technology companies and traditional logistics.