3 out of 4 Logistics Professionals see room for improvement in the Supply Chain

• 73% of shippers, carriers and logistics service providers believe that there is “very large” or “large” room for improvement in the way transportation processes are designed and managed

• This is the result of a survey conducted among 280 shippers, carriers and logistics service providers in October 2021 as part of the Transportation Pulse Report 2022. 

• The report that is collated by Transporeon in partnership with Adrian Gonzalez identifies “trust, relationships, networks and sustainability” as the cornerstones for a better tomorrow in transportation. 

Transporeon and Adrian Gonzalez, President of Adelante SCM and Founder of Talking Logistics, have just published the Transportation Pulse Report 2022. In light of the capacity shortages and delays within global logistics due to the COVID-19 crisis, the report identifies solutions for rebuilding trust in the supply chain. It combines quantitative insights from more than 280 shippers, carriers and 3PLs with the opinions of industry experts. A rising number of logistics professionals (25% compared to 18% in 2020) believe that there exists “very large” room for improvement in the way transportation processes are designed and managed. Another 48% of respondents see “large” room for improvement (compared to 47% in 2020). 

More specifically, respondents consider the biggest room for improvement to reside in the physical (68%) rather than the digital supply chain (32%). “It’s obvious,” comments Dr. Thomas Lieb, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, former CEO of DB Schenker and member of Transporeon’s Advisory Board “it’s currently the physical supply chain that is causing all the headaches, which is why building trustful and reliable relationships with your supply chain partners, having real-time visibility, and taking care of your people are so important.”

Overall trust among trading partners is low with more than half of participants “agreeing” or “strongly agreeing” that “you can’t be too careful when dealing with people across your supply chain”. This coincides with the problems identified in digital supply chains: 58% of respondents state that the lack of transparency and data sharing among trading partners was in need of fixing. Almost half of the respondents also state that a lack of real-time visibility was a problem. 

Hermann Ude, former CEO of DHL Global Forwarding, Member of the Board of Deutsche Post and today Chairman of Transporeon’s Advisory Board notes that “The response is more sharing of data and information, as well as joint optimization. All of these solutions that are available now, like real-time freight visibility and Transporeon’s Trust Center, are valuable because they provide transparency, they are an investment in building more trust. Having everyone looking at the same data will enable joint optimization, which was not possible in the past.” 

This opinion was also mirrored in the answers of the survey respondents who stated that “Matching demand with capacity more efficiently” was the highest priority for them in 2022. “Enabling greater visibility to real-time demand, rates & capacity” and “Eliminating manual & paper-based processes” were their second and third priorities. Reducing the carbon footprint also became more important since 2020. 

Further results of the study show that the integration of technology and logistics was strengthened within the last year. Software still matters, but the platform approach has become even more important with 77% of respondents stating that size and scope were “very important” or “important” criteria when selecting a TMS or logistics service provider. 

Industry expert Adrian Gonzalez summarizes: “What we do know is that very large opportunities for improvement still exist in transportation, and that to achieve them, the logistics industry needs to become more data-driven, and there needs to be greater transparency of data across all stakeholders.”