DUBAI AIRSHOW 2025: REGENT Craft and DHL Express to Explore Use of All-Electric Seagliders for Sustainable Cargo Logistics

REGENT Craft and DHL Express have signed a strate­gic Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing (MoU) to explore the use of elec­tric Seaglid­er ves­sels for short haul, coastal, and island logis­tics.

Signed yes­ter­day (Wednes­day) at the Dubai Air­show, both par­ties will work togeth­er to assess the poten­tial inte­gra­tion of REGENT’s Seaglid­er ves­sels into DHL’s exist­ing logis­tics net­work to extend the capa­bil­i­ties of its region­al and coastal car­go oper­a­tions.  

The part­ner­ship, set to begin in Jan­u­ary 2026, will see DHL Express explore deploy­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties for the Seaglid­er ves­sels in the Mid­dle East ini­tial­ly, fol­lowed by oth­er key mar­kets to pave the way for a more sus­tain­able future of logis­tics.

Bil­ly Thal­heimer, Co-founder and CEO of REGENT, said: “This col­lab­o­ra­tion marks anoth­er impor­tant mile­stone as we build a more sus­tain­able and con­nect­ed glob­al logis­tics ecosys­tem. Part­ner­ing with a glob­al logis­tics pio­neer like DHL allows us to demon­strate how Seaglid­er ves­sels can enhance effi­cien­cy, reduce emis­sions, and con­nect key trade routes across the Mid­dle East and beyond.”

REGENT and SDF pre­vi­ous­ly announced a joint ven­ture that will man­u­fac­ture REGENT’s Seaglid­er ves­sels in the UAE  in addi­tion to its man­u­fac­tur­ing facil­i­ty in Rhode Island.

The joint ven­ture will also pro­vide after­mar­ket ser­vices such as main­te­nance, and parts dis­tri­b­u­tion, boost­ing local man­u­fac­tur­ing capa­bil­i­ties and strength­en­ing the UAE’s indus­tri­al base.

Bachi Spi­ga, VP Net­work Oper­a­tions, DHL Express Mid­dle East and North Africa, said: “At DHL Express, we are con­stant­ly explor­ing inno­v­a­tive solu­tions that can help us decar­bonize logis­tics while improv­ing effi­cien­cy and ser­vice for our cus­tomers.

“REGENT’s all-elec­tric Seaglid­er rep­re­sents a trans­for­ma­tive step for­ward in sus­tain­able mar­itime trans­port. Through this part­ner­ship, we aim to explore how this tech­nol­o­gy can enhance our region­al and glob­al oper­a­tions — start­ing here in the Mid­dle East, one of the world’s most dynam­ic logis­tics hubs.”

The part­ner­ship builds on REGENT’s work in the Mid­dle East region, with Abu Dhabi’s Inte­grat­ed Trans­port Cen­tre hav­ing signed an MoU with REGENT in 2024, and ADNOC L&S select­ing the Seaglid­er ves­sel for a proof-of-con­cept tri­al to assess the craft’s suit­abil­i­ty for trans­port­ing per­son­nel to and from off­shore ener­gy infra­struc­ture ear­li­er in 2025