Drone Delivery Canada (DDC) has announced that the project announced in October with  DSC Air & Sea will go live in March.  It’s a big step for the drone delivery company, which produces both hardware and software: and an even bigger move for the logistics and shipping industry – which some valuations estimate at more than $40 billion.

Drone delivery has made major progress in recent years, but DDC’s first paying customer isn’t a pizza delivery service or even a healthcare facility.  Danish company DSC Air & Sea (DSC) is a global transport and logistics company, and their integration of drones into their workflow is an indication that the vertical could be a major adopter of unmanned systems in the near future.

DSV’s new facility in Milton, Ontario, is the largest facility in the company’s global network – and the largest multi-tenant warehouse in Canada.  DDC has installed landing pads and battery management systems for their Sparrow drones, which can carry a cargo payload of up to 10 pounds.  The Sparrow will operate on the facility site to begin with, and then will perform pickup and delivery for customers.

As the project ramps up, DDC expects that the application will expand.  The company has also set a pricing methodology for this application: DSV will pay a monthly fee for each drone route deployed.

“This will be a major milestone for the Company – our first operational, commercialized customer and first revenue. DSV is a global leader in the logistics industry and a perfect fit as a long-term, scalable customer for us,” said Michael Zahra, President & CEO of DDC in a company press release. “DDC continues to lead the drone logistics industry and we have a very strong funnel of global opportunities and expect to see continued customer announcements in 2020 for deployment & revenue generation this year.”

DDC has several commercial offerings.  The heavy-lift Condor drone, a VTOL that resembles a helicopter, can carry payloads of 400 pounds with an endurance of 124 miles.  The Robin XL has a payload capacity of 25 pounds with a shorter range, but can handle harsher environmental conditions.