Upon mention of the Caribbean, most people think of idyllic white-sand beaches, Hollywood pirates, the magical sound of steel drums, a handsomely crafted rum cocktail. But the region ringed by Central America, the northern coast of South America and an arc of island nations stretching toward the tip of South Florida – is more than a picturesque vacation spot. It is becoming a key jumping-off point for cargo flights between the Americas and the rest of the world, including Europe, Africa and now the Middle East.

A rash of "mega-deals" during the second quarter of 2015 have made transportation and logistics one of the hottest mergers and acquisitions sectors, boosting the average deal value to $564m, according to a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In recent years there has been a slimming down, as it were, regarding freighters – a turning away from the jumbo 747s and 777s and toward the squat 737s and svelte 757s. The e-commerce revolution, especially in Asia, requires smaller freighters to make more frequent stops. But because there are no current programs to build narrowbody freighters from the factory, customers must rely on companies providing passenger-to-freighter conversions.

Since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, many of the old Communist-era restrictions for setting up business have been removed. For some logistics companies, the largest barriers to entry come not from Chinese red tape but from other Western competition.

A group of very important guests were transported on flight QR 8197 from Amsterdam-Schiphol to Las Vegas via Qatar Airways this past April. A 777-200 freighter was reserved for just 40 well-pampered passengers from 17 different countries, who flew "first class," so to speak, on the 11-hour, 20-minute flight. The combined net worth of these clients was about $160m. As rich as they were, they did little more on the flight than eat and sleep, with an inflight dining menu of 120 pre-packed haynets, water, oat bran for mash, mixed feed, apples and carrots.

U.S. Senator Cory Booker has introduced the "Commercial UAS Modernization Act," which could create temporary rules to allow commercial drone operations in the United States.