The simpler world of cargo shifting is its new priority. Virgin Hyperloop has fired 111 of their employees as they are abandoning the idea of making their Hyperloop system ready for passenger use. Virgin Hyperloop, has now started exclusively focusing on moving cargo and has slashed almost half of their entire workforce, a spokesperson also confirmed that The shift was taking place in the business as there were many supply chain issues with COVID-19 being the main reason.

Since the time they were founded, the company has been developing the vacuum tube system to carry both passengers and freight, and one of the earliest concepts left loaded was an inland port in which cargo vessels would put containers into capsules and they would be shot on land before their process. That way, the main logistics hub wouldn’t need to be beside the sea, and could instead be at the heart of a transit hub closer to customers.

This was something that encouraged DP World, a Dubai-owned ports and logistics giant to invest in this technology offered by Virgin Hyperloop. And now they currently hold the majority of stake in Virgin Hyperloop, also in 2018, they launched “Cargospeed,” a sub-brand dedicated to moving cargo.

Virgin Hyperloop has also been in a spin for the last few months after former head Josh Giegel, one of the people to travel in a pod, quit the company. It’s really interesting to see where this is going and what the future for Hyperloop stands.