Hyperloop Technology to Be Studied as Shipping Tool

                   port of Jebel Ali

Hyperloop technology is fast-tracking into the freight sector.

Hyperloop One Inc., one of two companies racing to build the futuristic speed-of-sound transportation technology, announced a new partnership with the one of the world’s largest port-terminal operators, DP World.

Hyperloop One and DP World will work together to study the viability of using hyperloop technology to unload ocean-container cargo at the Jebel Ali port in Dubai. Containers would travel swiftly via hyperloop to an inland depot, while minimizing the impact on local surface traffic.


Hyperloop, a concept popularized in recent years by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, is a technology for transporting people or cargo in suspended capsules through miles-long near-vacuum tubes at speeds reaching more than 700 miles per hour.

“We have to be creative to sustain our business,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman and chief executive of DP World, at a news conference at Hyperloop One’s offices in Los Angeles on Monday. “This is a game changer for the terminal handling operation as it is today.”


Dubai’s Jebel Ali port last year handled about the same volume of cargo as the Southern California port complex, which includes the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, but it is growing quickly, Mr. Sulayem said. With nearly 8,000 port-related businesses in Dubai, and thousands of vehicles visiting the port each day, he said, “congestion is a way of life.”

The DP World feasibility study will explore design, cost and financing options, and it will include studying the possibility of an offshore, floating hyperloop. That concept would enable containers to be taken from a ship, placed into the tube, then transported directly to an inland hub rather than requiring handling and taking up space on the docks—vastly reducing local congestion and emissions, while freeing up port real estate.

If hyperloop works in Jebel Ali, Mr. Sulayem said, “this will re-engineer our thinking world-wide.” DP World operates 77 cargo terminals in more than 40 countries.

The announcement comes as ports around the world are working both to improve efficiency and reduce emissions, after decades of global trade growth have increased traffic congestion and pollution in port-adjacent communities. The Dubai port is one of several where Hyperloop One’s engineers are studying the application of their technology to move cargo. The firm is also conducting freight-related feasibility studies in the U.S., Switzerland and Russia.

“The first hyperloop could easily happen in Dubai,” said Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd. While the technology has been discussed widely as speedy means of passenger transportation, Mr. Lloyd said freight may be the first step.

“Our intuition and discussions with regulators have told us start first with freight,” Mr. Lloyd said. “That’s why we’re pretty excited about these projects.”

In Southern California, where Hyperloop One is based, the firm has partnered with AECOM Technology Corp. and GRID Logistics Inc. to study the feasibility of hyperloop technology at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest container port complex in the U.S.

Mr. Lloyd said hyperloop technology has advantages over proposed rail-transfer facilities that have recently hit setbacks in Southern California, including a BNSF Rainway Co. rail yard that lost a court battle after the neighboring community objected to the environmental impact.

“The things that prevented BNSF’s project don’t apply to hyperloop,” Mr. Lloyd said. “We could go directly from the dock to hyperloop, to rail yards or the Inland Empire in the future.” The Inland Empire is an area east of Los Angeles that is a popular transportation and logistics hub for goods delivered via the port complex.

Hyperloop One faces other challenges as it seeks to get its technology up and running. In July, Brogan BamBrogan, one of the startup’s two founders, sued co-founder Shervin Pishevar and the company in a California state court, alleging mismanagement, breach of fiduciary duty and other mistreatment. The company filed a $250 million countersuit, alleging Mr. BamBrogan and three colleagues tried to start their own competing company while at Hyperloop One, breaching nonsolicitation, nondisparagement and confidentiality agreements.