Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/997322
S1 SHIPPING & LOGISTICS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 JUNE 2018 SHIPPING & Logistics To consumers, e-commerce's rapid delivery may seem like magic: a few clicks on the mouse, and within an hour or two a package can land on your doorstep. Behind this, however, lies an enormous amount of investment, engineering and hard work as firms face ever-rising expectations of fast, cheap delivery. Delivery networks are likely to be strained as the volume of parcels grows. That is spurring new experiments in logistics, some mundane (picking up parcels in stores) and some that appear out of this world (Amazon patents for underwater warehouses). The most enticing ideas in logistics involve unmanned delivery. Driverless delivery trucks may one day help, and Amazon has patents for f lying warehouses and drone-charging stations atop church steeples. But all such new methods have drawn scepticism. The fact that many drones carry only one parcel and then have to recharge, is just one of the many criticisms. But experimentation continues and, as it does, once again the largest players are the most likely to win. They have the cash to pour into new technologies and the volume of sales to reap the benefits from big investments.