Inter-island postal deliveries by drone may soon be possible

But there is still a lot of work to be done before the Bailiwick is ready.

In the UK Royal Mail is proposing that within the next three years up to 200 drones could help carry the mail on 50 new routes with the Isles of Scilly, Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands and the Hebrides.

Mr Smillie said they were in close contact with Royal Mail and he was hopeful of seeing the technology used in the Bailiwick during his career.

‘We have been keeping a close eye of drone technology and we have for some years now, particularly with the logistics of using drones to deliver to hard-to-reach communities,’ he said.

‘For us, we already have a very reliable network in place, so there is no immediate urgency to bring in drones, but it is interesting to see how we could.’

Mr Smillie said one of the big challenges was ensuring postal drones could operate safely and they would need to work closely with the regulator to ensure that was the case. He did note that Guernsey Post would be looking at specifically inter-island transportation, which was safer than over land.

‘I don’t see drones being used domestically on-island, but certainly between the islands, especially for things like urgent deliveries, like medical supplies or prescriptions,’ he said.

‘Perhaps in the next five years we may see deliveries between the islands. We are waiting for the technology to become affordable and develop to make it safer.’

Mail to Herm and Sark is carried by boat, while Alderney’s letters travel by air and its parcels by boat.

‘Generally speaking the service between the islands are quite robust,’ Mr Smillie said.

‘But there are weather challenges, especially in the winter.’

Mr Smillie said he was interested to see the increase in weight that drones were able to carry as technology improves.

‘With operational capacity, we’ve got to make sure whatever we need to convey can be conveyed by drone,’ he said.

He did note that using drones could be quite expensive. But he added that Royal Mail’s approach to share its experiences of the technology was a huge help to Guernsey Post.

‘We are not practically planning to use it yet, but we are keeping a close watch on the technology,’ he said.

‘When we started to look at this, which was probably five years ago, the possibility of drones have the capacity to fly at far as Alderney was unthinkable. But now that is quite achievable. We would not like to put time scales for how quickly it could develop.’

Separate from Guernsey Post, Guernsey authorities have been in talks with a consortium of companies with a view to seeing how drones might benefit the Bailiwick.

It comes after Jersey announced recently that it had struck a deal with the Alias consortium for drone trials to take place in the island in 2024.

That will test the safety of the technology and assess if there is any opportunity to improve the supply chain between Jersey, the UK and Europe.