Facts, insights & trends: Transport industry moving forward at transport logistic 2019

The transport logistic 2019 trade fair in Munich, which takes place every two years, once again lives up to its claim as the world’s leading transport and logistics event:

More than 2,300 exhibitors (including freight forwarders, logistics service providers, infrastructure providers, logistics consultancies, national agencies, ports, IT and mobility service providers) from 64 countries found their way to Munich-Riem multimodally, by car, plane, bus shuttle or local public transport, despite the hot temperatures.

As expected, the fair served an information and networking hub, like the get-together at the German Logistics Association (BVL).

Brexit and the Silk Road affect tomorrow’s transport flows

A glance at the exhibition schedule revealed the most pressing pain points: Geopolitically, this is primarily the dragging Brexit with its considered significant logistical disturbances.

This entails the ensuing risk that preferential proofs of origin for hard Brexit will no longer be issued, which in turn means more effort and considerable delays in customs clearance.

The other focal point was the Chinese Silk Road program, the so-called “Belt and Road Initiative”.

There were hot discussions on both, opportunities and threats. The first being enhanced access to the Chinese market through efficient terminals, railways and roads, as well as increasing trade streams to the east.

The latter centering around the growing influence of China on European businesses and the lacking reciprocity due to little to no coordination and joint actions at an European level. Today, 10 % of the European terminal capacity is already controlled by Chinese organizations.

Previous hype topics such as blockchain, on the other hand, were rather quiet – presumably due to a lack of relevant use cases.

Innovative solutions for transport logistics

Above all, transport logistic 2019 was about solutions for the specific transport and logistics challenges. Some notable examples:

• “Green Logistics” to reduce the carbon footprint (i.e. lower consumption of resources) will also lead to an increase in competitiveness.
• Measures to ensure functional “hinterland transport”, so that even the “last mile” can be served efficiently and reliably.
• Smart integration of the partners involved through intelligent interfaces, ensuring improved interconnectivity in logistics

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  Intelligent container management, with containers that recognize their current state of load and their status in the process and independently trigger alerts in case of rule violations (e.g. with regard to humidity or temperature).
  The SupplyOn subsidiary EURO-LOG, for example, made it possible to experience this in virtual reality 3D glasses.
• Mobile solutions for forwarders and transport service providers, which improve interconnectivity thus provide more visibility in the transport process

In other words, transport logistics 2019 (open till June 7) continues to provide groundbreaking impetus for the global transport industry as the backbone of an increasingly interconnected but also vulnerable global trade.