Global Logistics Trends to Watch Out For In 2020

In the last decade, the entire world has witnessed a paradigm shift in digital technological innovations and so has the global logistics industry. Changes are happening and ideas are now forming shapes at much more pace than ever before! 

Amidst all these changes, one industry that is reportedly one of the most impacted industrial sectors is the transportation and logistics industry. There are new transportation and logistics industry trends and many recent developments in international logistics. 

In the past few years, this sector has welcomed and experienced the greatest advancements for the logistics sector in areas like Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Automation, and Advanced Analytics to name a few. Now, these innovations and advancements come with their own share of expectations from consumers compelling the logistics industry to keep up with their demands or simply fall behind in the race. Today, consumers want their desired products or services to be delivered at a faster and cheaper rate. The increasing demand in the e-commerce sector is forcing to change the technology trends in the logistics industry within the shipper and carrier companies. 

All these companies upgrade themselves and in the business from time to time with certain apt trends. So, what about 2020? Come, let’s have a look at the key global logistics trends 2020. 

1) Green Logistics: The global logistics industry alone accounts for 11% of global emissions in totality. Out of this 11%, 8% is caused by freight traffic caused by carrier ships, trucks, plane etc.

High focus on sustainability is leading companies to integrate sustainable solutions and goals to lower the carbon footprints in the environment. If all the key players work together in collaboration to utilize their resources thoughtfully, they can not only reduce costs but also get a winning reputation. The solutions include better vehicle loading and managing and planning similar routes. 

2) Supply Chain Integration and Visibility: Supply chain integration gives you visibility in the era of digitization. In order to meet the high demands of the consumers, the companies need to have complete 24×7 tracking of the goods to avoid unexpected events. The lack of it makes collaboration between logistics partners really difficult. This is one of the best transportation and logistics industry trends. It plays a vital role in maintaining competition and making good business decisions.

3) Environmental footprint and sustainable solutions for the logistics industry: In the global logistics trends 2020, environmental footprint and sustainable solutions will be on top priority and focus. Developing a sustainable strategy with sustainable solutions to help the consumers in reducing ecological footprint will increase relevance and preference for the company. Focus on sustainability will bring in a radical improvement in key areas like an alternative form of fuel energy and alternative supply chains (3D printing) etc. It will also be helpful for major thinking for product and services incorporating advanced technologies. 

4) Automation, Robotization, and Artificial Intelligence: All these have an extremely high impact on the global logistics industry. They are not only receiving more interests but thus traction, demand and use cases. Everything and anything that can be digitized and automated comes under this. Robots and Artificial Intelligence, both are getting highly advanced with the latest tech innovations. These all are vital tools for the transportation and logistics industry trends as the entire industry heavily trusts and relies on efficient and predictable and effective logistics flows. It will surely change the nature of the fleet moving.

5) Internet of Things: IoT is a major player in improving the transportation and logistics industry’s value chains since it allows for seamless and clear communication between the technological and digital devices that are connected with each other through designated digital sensors of different kinds. These sensors are responsible for collecting, exchanging, storing data. They further make intelligent conclusions for taking appropriate actions like changing vehicle parameters without the need for human intervention. It is not only saving time but also saving energy resources and costs. It results in improved transparency, predictability and chain precision of entire logistics processes. It also helps in better supply planning while resolving emission levels. 

6) Electro-mobility: If we talk about the top 10 logistics trends transforming the global logistics market in 2020, then Electro-mobility will emerge as one of the key global logistics trends 2020. Electric vehicles and electric-power driven systems will see significant development in the near future due to battery-driven fuel and not the oil one. This also not only cuts down the total expense and energy but also helps in reducing carbon footprints. It will also force the environmentally-aware consumers to go for smarter and effective options.

7) Blockchain technology: This one definitely has the potential to revolutionize the global logistics trends 2020. This Blockchain technology mainly holds information and data on a Blockchain network and further exists as a proper shared digital database of the consumers. Information is stored on the blocks, is identical across the native network with no glitches. The stored information will be easily accessible online and verifiable to anyone. It will also increase transparency and credibility in the processes. 

8) Urbanisation and consumption: According to many reports, by the year 2030, about 65% of the world population will shift to cities resulting in urbanisation and an increase in the consumption of new technological products and services. This will finally increase the logistics flow. This will in return need efficient strategies for fleet distribution, noise pollution, traffic, and environmental issues. Self-driving and delivering services like drones will be used as alternative options to meet high demands. 3D printing will also catch momentum.

9) TradeLens technology: This technology is again one of the important technology trends in the logistics industry. It provides a common and transparent system for terminal and port logistics operators in the entire transport business. Thus, the information sharing in this segment is comparatively convenient and glitch-free. Because all the major segments of the global logistics industry such as terminal operators, suppliers, logistics service providers, etc. execute the desired digital processes from a single secure source making it highly reliable. 

10) Cognitive skills, innovation, and deep insights: As the latest innovations like AI, AR will take place in the market, the logistics industry will seek new levels of competency in comparison to what they used to have previously in their offerings and services. Now, companies and consumers prefer collaborative and cognitive approaches rather than just following a pipeline process.This is the reason why analytics and tech-savviness will become a necessity. Knowledge is definitely a plus point but finding facts, analysing and then customizing it for better is the X-factor. The employees and service providers essentially need to be savvy with analysing facts, conceptualizing ideas and interpreting information and collaborate the same. This also requires the ability of learning, questioning and grasping for logical decision making.

Apart from these top 10 logistics trends transforming the global logistics market in 2020, freight and fleet moving companies have to adapt out of the box ideas with more insights and innovation-driven approaches. These will help them to be the preferred and relevant choice in the industry possessing a high volume of loyal consumers. Consumer insights are the key ingredients of an effective business strategy.