Current issues in logistics and transport

Few nations are as dependent on logistics as China. As the workshop of the modern world and with by far its largest population, it has to move, store and handle a bewildering amount of stuff. This blog discusses the scale of China’s logistics challenge, it training of logistics specialists and its recent research on supply chain management. Continue reading →

This is National Lorry Week in the UK when the population is urged, by the to ‘love the lorry’. Affection may be too much to expect, but certainly the aim of improving the image of the lorry, and the haulage industry as a whole, is very laudable. Continue reading →

The so-called ‘science-based’ approach to setting carbon reduction targets for business is gaining traction. In my opinion, it should really be called the ‘climate science-based’ approach as its origins lie in climate modelling, in particular calculations of the maximum amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) that we can emit to stay within a 2o C temperature increase by 2100. Continue reading →

Truck platooning is currently a hot topic in the road freight sector. Last month’s European Truck Platooning Challenge, organised by the Dutch government, generated a good deal of interest and provided more evidence that the concept is at a high level of ‘technological readiness’. It basically involves connecting several trucks electronically into a convoy.
Continue reading →

On the 16 and 17 June I had the pleasure of chairing a symposium in Brussels on the adaptation of transport systems to climate change and extreme weather, jointly organised by the European Commission, the US Transportation Research Board (TRB) and US Department for Transportation. This brought together 45 top specialists in this field from the US and Europe. Continue reading →

Over the past three months I’ve had the pleasure of discussing the ‘greening’ of freight transport with senior people in government and business in many East African and South East Asian countries. I have been greatly heartened by their commitment to the cause of cleaning-up the movement of freight. Continue reading →

The UK’s EU Referendum is now just over a month away and opinion polls suggest that support for the ‘Remain’ and ‘Leave’ campaigns is quite finely balanced. As a so-called Brexit is seen as a real possibility, its implications for different sectors of the economy and society are now receiving greater scrutiny. Continue reading →

I can see how drones will allow parcels to hover above congested roads and get to their destinations more quickly, reliably and directly. Some simple arithmetic suggests that to achieve a noticeable reduction in urban traffic levels, the sky above our towns and cities would have to fill with drones. Continue reading →

Back in 2004 a large survey of supply chain managers by Accenture identified ‘collaborating with multiple partners’ as their greatest challenge. It remains a major challenge. Given the rich potential benefits of logistical collaborations, their rate of formation has been disappointingly slow. There is evidence, however, that momentum is building.

Continue reading →