We are in Japan in 2030. In Tokyo, Akiko is impatiently waiting for the delivery of her new games console. It will never happen… The reason? Simply because there are not enough people to deliver the packages due to the serious collapsecollapse demographic decline that the country has been experiencing for decades. It is a projection, but it is what the authorities are suggesting when they consider that by 2030, 30% of parcels will not be delivered due to a serious shortage of labor.
To anticipate this future reality, the government is considering connecting major cities with automated logistics links. Environmentally virtuous, they would allow millions of tons of goods to be transported silently. The other advantage of this project is that tens of thousands of heavy goods vehicles would also have to leave the roads.
Zero-emission transport
The project has been underway since the beginning of the year within a group of experts from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. They believe that a first link between Tokyo and Osaka could be deployed by 2034. Several configurations are being imagined to transport goods. For long distances, treadmillstreadmills 500 kilometers long could be installed on the side of highways or in tunnels under roads.
According to the authorities, such a process could remove up to 25,000 heavy goods vehicles from the road. Cargo pallets could also be moved by small automated carts in underground galleries. The ministry has already launched appeals to private companies to help finance this project, which will remain to their advantage. It must be said that just financing the digging of a 500-kilometer tunnel could cost 23 billion dollars, without any equipment.
