Digitalization and innovation

• The partnership between DB Schenker and Volocopter aims to offer solutions in the area of Urban Air Mobility (UAM). After a successful initial demo flight in October 2021 in Hamburg, DB Schenker, together with Volocopter, is planning additional flights with Volocopter in order to test the commercial potential of VoloDrone, a versatile heavy-load cargo drone for logistics and transport applications. In addition to middle-mile deliveries, the drone is also suitable for other applications in coastal and mountainous regions and maritime applications, such as country-to-country deliveries. Although not all logistical operations can be handled by drones, heavy-load cargo drones can play a crucial role in sustainable supply chains. In the first half of 2022, the focus was on selecting and analyzing initial flight routes for operational use. In
  addition to analysis of legal and technical aspects, the potential for savings from direct GHG emissions has been investigated in particular. The ideal, optimized 21st century supply chain will require a mix of electric drones, autonomous trucks, climate-neutral freight aircraft and climate-neutral container ships.
• With Avatour, DB Schenker has developed a virtual warehouse inspection that enables audits to be carried out completely remotely. By using a standard video conference, Avatour gives remote users the option of freely selecting the viewpoint in full-picture mode within a VR session. The platform uses mobile 360° video recording technology in real-time and can be used via laptops and VR goggles. The technology allows participants to be close to the action with their own avatar and interact with up to 25 participants. The benefit is that DB Schenker can offer its customers an exclusive service and the operating personnel can be trained virtually, which saves on GHG emissions. In the first half of 2022, 20 trips were carried out with a total of 132 participants. This saved about 109 t of GHG emissions, assuming that each of these parti­cipants would have had to travel from Germany to the various locations. Thirty-one locations worldwide are currently able to carry out these trips.