The transportation and logistics sector is responsible for keeping people and goods moving across regions and countries, and facilitating trade and commerce. It covers all modes of transport and associated activities and services that assist the transport of passengers and goods, such as warehousing, distribution, customs clearance, and freight forwarding.
Disruption in a post-Pandemic world
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global trade and supply chains, causing huge demand and supply mismatches, capacity bottlenecks, port jams, and labor crunches. The transportation and logistics sector underwent massive transformation to cope with these challenges. As a result of the pandemic, the sector also saw a boom in eCommerce and home delivery services, demanding more nimble and adaptable logistics solutions. One response has been a surge in ‘sharing’ models that range from on-demand delivery services to more structured joint ventures and alliances at the business level.
Embracing new technologies
The sector has leveraged digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, internet of things, cloud computing, and big data analytics, to boost its efficiency, resilience, and competitiveness. It has also embraced new business models, with new digital platforms, marketplaces, and ecosystems generating more value and enhancing customer satisfaction.
The emergence of Physical Internet
The emergence of the ‘Physical Internet’ as a future logistics system that mimics the digital internet, using smart and modular containers that can connect and move across different modes and facilities, has the potential to radically transform the industry. It has the potential to help the industry reduce its environmental impact, improve efficiency and resilience, and create new value for providers and customers.
