As early as autumn, Deutsche Post is to transport parcels along the River Spree in Berlin by solar powered boat.

The postal operator is in talks with the districts where this would take place, as infrastructure needs to be put in place at the landing stages where the ship would dock. In a statement, Deutsche Post said “We plan to initially deploy at least one solar-powered ship on the Spree,” it said. “The starting point will be Berlin’s Westhafen.”

Initially, “Measured against the total daily volume, however, it will be comparatively small quantities at the beginning,” Deutsche Post said in its statement. From the docks, parcels will be loaded onto land transport vehicles for final-yard delivery to addresses.

The project, if launched, would be part of a study with the Technische Universität Berlin (TU). Deutsche Post continued, “In metropolitan regions with an existing waterway infrastructure with low capacity utilisation, the transport mode ship usually offers massive free capacities for shifting freight traffic from the congested roads to the water.”

Ultimately, Deutsche Post would use unmanned, autonomous vessels for the deliveries, further reducing costs.

Source: https://apex-insight.com/deutsche-post-to-trial-solar-powered-boat-deliveries/