45-46/2021
Dear readers,
The fact that the transport and logistics industry is extremely important for every company and every consumer worldwide, but nevertheless lives almost as a wallflower in the public perception, is an almost prehistoric lament uttered by the sector’s representatives over the years. Now it seems that an invisible virus has achieved more for the industry in 18 months than all of the (modest) marketing efforts of the last 100 years.
The personal encounters of recent weeks, be they in Dublin at the Iata World Cargo Symposium, in Berlin at the German Logistics Congress or in Valencia at the Euro-Med Convention – the people, the voices, the conversations! – underline the fact that this fundamental change doesn’t seem to have blown away without a trace, much like applause from balconies for hospital and care-home workers, but would rather seem to remain relevant beyond just today.
Governments haven’t only recognised the existence of the industry beyond passengers – they’re even beginning to think about transport infrastructure in new ways. Shippers (and forwarders) are learning that just-in-time, last-minute and spot markets can also be traitors. Urban consumers have noticed that a t-shirt they ordered online for EUR 9.99 this morning hasn’t arrived yet that same afternoon. Tempora mutantur.
I wish you an enjoyable read – be it in the air, on the waters or indeed on solid ground.
Christian Doepgen
Editor-in-chief