Asia's
Only Integrated Showcase for Mobility Innovation Across Air, Land and Sea >
MobilityNews >
F-drones completes first commercial Beyond-Visual- Line-Of-Sight (BVLOS) drone delivery in Singapore
F-drones completes first commercial Beyond-Visual- Line-Of-Sight (BVLOS) drone delivery in Singapore
F-drones completes first commercial Beyond-Visual- Line-Of-Sight (BVLOS) drone delivery in Singapore
GAME CHANGER | 29 APRIL 2020
 DRONE DELIVERY IN SINGAPORE/f-drones.jpg)
Photo credit: F-dronesF-drones has completed the first commercial BVLOS drone delivery in Singapore on 19 April 2020. The drone delivered 2 kg of vitamins over 2.7 km in 7 minutes, to a ship managed by Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS). EPS, which is one of the world’s largest privately-owned ship managers, is F-drones’ first paying customer.
In Singapore, like in most parts of the world, a BVLOS authorisation or permit is required when operating drones beyond the visual range of drone pilots. Without which, commercial drone delivery services would not be viable.
F-drones is the first company in Singapore to receive an authorisation from the aviation authority, to conduct BVLOS drone deliveries to ships in Singapore. For now, this is limited to drone deliveries to ships anchored south of the marina area. This already is a significant milestone for both F-drones and Singapore, as globally, there are only a handful that are operating commercial BVLOS drone deliveries. And F-drones is already working towards expanding their area of operations.
Started little more than a year ago, F-drones is a home-grown startup developing large-scale delivery drones which are fully electric and autonomous. Their goal is to eventually use their proprietary drones, which would be able to send 100kg loads over 100km to ships and offshore platforms. This would help alleviate the pain of sending supplies in marine & offshore applications, which rely on small boats and helicopters.
“These traditional means of transport are expensive, slow, labour and carbon intensive. F-drones’ solutions can help save up to 80% of the costs, time and CO2 emissions. Besides being efficient, delivery drones can also reduce unnecessary human contact amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”, according to Nicolas Ang, CEO of F-drones.
