Set to have a disruptive effect on manufacturing, warehousing and supply chain distribution throughout the GCC and beyond, Hyperloop One is reinventing transportation to eliminate the barriers of distance and time. Traveling at speeds of 1080 km/h, Hyperloop will enable travel between cities in the GCC in under an hour, enabling disruption that will create new opportunities in manufacturing, warehousing and supply chain distribution. 

Nick Earle, senior VP of Hyperloop One’s Global Operations, delivered the closing key note at the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) in Abu Dhabi, bringing to light the transformative effect that Hyperloop One will have on manufacturing, logistics, supply chain and warehousing. The keynote, entitled ‘Hyperloop and Manufacturing – This Changes Everything,’ highlighted the ways in which the aforementioned sectors will benefit – including increased capital due to reducing finished goods inventories by 25 percent, access to 10 times larger talent pools with the same commute time and saving up to 80 percent on real estate costs, as well as shorter lead times, reduced freight spend and slashed CO2 emissions. 

“As the only company in the world building an operational Hyperloop system, Hyperloop One is focused on creating a new mode of transportation to move people and cargo,” said Earle. “Hyperloop One changes everything. We're committed to enabling disruption to create new opportunities in manufacturing, warehousing and supply chain distribution. Hyperloop will drive significant value for a wide range of businesses and reinvent transportation as we know it.” 

At two thirds the cost, three times the speed and with 3.5-4 times the benefit of high speed rail, Hyperloop will have a tangible impact on current and future businesses and society. Hyperloop will transform transportation, driving value throughout the ecosystem and enabling job creation, while also empowering workers with the ability to commute quickly and easily. This, in particular, will help to provide employment opportunities to the 200 million youth that live in the Middle East and North Africa, the largest growing sector of the region’s population.  

In the GCC, the cargo transportation market was worth approximately US$35 billion in 2016, according to McKinsey & Co. Of this, Hyperloop One has an addressable share of around US$12 billion, excluding short-haul, intra-city shipping and low-value commodity freight such as oil and chemicals, metals and minerals and agriculture and food products. Hyperloop One would compete for 100 percent of air freight in the GCC, which is a $7 billion market, 22 percent of the surface freight – which is approximately $3 billion in road and rail freight and 13 percent of the maritime freight, equating to roughly $2 billion. 

"The UAE has a progressive vision for transforming its economy, and Hyperloop One plays right into that by increasing access to the region and beyond,” said Shervin Pishevar, executive chairman and co-founder of Hyperloop One. “At Hyperloop One, we’re committed to enabling disruption, and we recognize the importance of partnership in being able to realize the full potential of developing robust ecosystems that are needed to support Hyperloop’s capacity. In this sense, we’re thinking beyond the benefits that Hyperloop will offer companies; connecting the GCC with Hyperloop will enable governments to address the region’s youth bulge, by providing young jobseekers with the opportunity to explore new, exciting job prospects. As an entrepreneur myself, I can understand the value of having an accessible ecosystem."

During GMIS, Hyperloop One announced the launch of the Hyperloop One Partner Program, which is designed to create mutually beneficial, structured relationships between Hyperloop One and the company’s global partners. The program will help partners build expertise in Hyperloop One solutions, increase revenue, build industry recognition and provide inside access to understand and influence Hyperloop One’s strategy. As the industry’s first partner program, it will unite an innovative partner ecosystem to make the next mode of transportation a reality.