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GENERAL LOGISTICSSUSTAINABLE LOGISTICSCLIMATE CHANGEFREIGHT TRANSPORTINFRASTRUCTURE AND PROPERTYRETAIL LOGISTICS- Downloads
What exactly is logistics?
Many people think of logistics as simply moving stuff. The appearance of the word on the sides of trucks certainly gives this impression. In practice logistics is a complex mix of freight transport, storage, handling, inventory management and all the IT required to co-ordinate these activities. It is a function that we all take for granted but without which our economy, indeed whole way of life, would collapse. It is a major industry in its own right, accounting for 12% of global GDP, and a major polluter releasing around 10-11% of global CO2 emissions. To get a sense of just how important logistics is, have a look at this video.
Latest book
Welcome
Professor Alan McKinnonWelcome to my personal website. On this site I have assembled many of the outputs of a career spent researching, teaching and advising in the field of logistics.
I had the good fortune to enter this field when it was at an early stage in its development, full of interesting research questions and in the grip of managerial revolution. It remains a vibrant and rapidly evolving subject area, constantly faced with new challenges and opportunities.
One of the greatest challenges logistics managers will have to confront in future decades is climate change. The link between logistics and climate change has been the focus of much of my recent research and features prominently on the site. My book on the decarbonisation of logistics was published in June 2018.
Whatever your interest in logistics, however, there should be something on this site of relevance.
Alan McKinnon
Professor of Logistics, Kuehne Logistics University, Hamburg
Professor Emeritus, Heriot-Watt University, EdinburghBlogs on logistics topics
ITF SIPA Policy Dialogue meeting in Jakarta
As the author of two reports for the International Transport Forum’s contribution to the OECD's Strategic Infrastructure Programme for Asia (SIPA), I was invited to participate in the concluding Policy Dialogue meeting for the Southeast Asian part of the study which was held in Jakarta on the 24 and 25 April, 2025. This event, co-hosted by the Indonesia’s Ministry of National Development Planning and the United Nations Development Progamme (UNDP), was attended by government delegations from seven Southeast Asian countries, with China, Korea and Germany also represented. The focus of discussion was the connectivity, decarbonisation and resilience of freight transport systems. The ITF commissioned methodological reports on each of these aspects of freight, plus a fourth one which examined the inter-relationships between them. My main roles at the meeting were to give a presentation summarising the contents of the four reports and to moderate a discussion of the freight transport sustainability measures being introduced by governments in the region.
A copy of my presentation entitled ‘Evaluating and Improving the Performance of Freight Transport’ is available for download. It contains links to the four methodological reports and a range of other data sources.
Reports on ‘enhancing different aspects of freight transport’:
Connectivity: Prof Ruth Banomyong
Decarbonization: Prof. Alan McKinnon
Resilience: Dr Jasper Verschuur
Relationships between connectivity, decarbonization, and resilience: Prof. Alan McKinnon
YouTube videos of presentations and interview on the reports
- Advisory roles
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