[INFOGRAPHIC] The Logistics and Transportation Industry

The logistics and transportation industry has been a sector deeply affected by the rise of the internet and e-commerce. As of today however 85 million packages and documents are delivered everyday around the world. Logistics companies are therefore required to keep pace with the increasing number in shipments to be able to accommodate consumers.Robots and automated services already exist and are apart of our reality. By 2025 we can expect our packages to be delivered by drones or automated trucks. As of 2015, the global market value surpassed 4 Trillion U.S Dollars.

Amongst transportation methods, road freight still remains the most important in terms of market value ($2Tn) and is most likely to be the most disrupted by new technologies. Ground freight carries over 8 billion tonnes/km everyday. Air freight’s total market value amounted to 70 billion dollars. 1% of the world’s tonnage shipments is done through air freight, however it represents 35% of trade value. The sea freight industry itself has been losing market value in the recent years, and as of 2013, had made 6.5 million U.S dollars in losses

As other industries strongly rely on logistics and operations, it is crucial for companies to embrace digital as part of their strategy. Digital platforms are becoming increasingly important in handling packages efficiently and delivering in a timely manner.
Indeed, through digital integration can rectify inefficiencies, from warehouse management to truck travel routes and deliveries (i.e: 50% of truck regularly travel empty on their return journeys). Warehouses like John Lewis, Amazon have all adopted a digital infrastructure between augmented reality picking, warehouse robots and management softwares and now rely on new enabled third party players (3PL) to solve the last-mile delivery problem. Global outsourced logistics market has increased by 5% since 2015 and is now valued at 760 billion U.S Dollars. The 3 top logistics companies that are dominating the market are FedEx, Deutsche Post and UPS, all of which made in 2014, a minimum of 43 billion U.S Dollars.

Benefits from digitization over the next five years can benefit companies in terms of cost reductions (3.2%) as well as additional revenue of 2.7% on average.