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Visit Alan McKinnon's LinkedIn page



Logistics - a major industry in its own right
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. 

Love Logistics video


Latest book

Book contents

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Welcome

Professor Alan McKinnon
Professor Alan McKinnon

Welcome 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, Edinburgh


 

Blogs on logistics topics

Keynote address to Eastern European Business conference

 

At the Ost-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft (German Eastern Business Association) conference in KLU on the 28 November 2024 I gave a keynote address on the ‘Role of Logistics in a Resilient Net Zero Europe’. In this talk I defined resilience in climatic and geopolitical terms and argued that we need to assess the combined logistical requirements of climate change adaptation, the renewable energy transition and carbon capture and storage.  When scale-up over the next few decades all of these activities will be highly freight transport-intensive though they are not as yet factored into the models used to forecast future freight traffic levels and related emissions. I also commented on freight modal shift and CO2 storage challenges that Eastern European countries will face. This was in keeping with the overall theme of the conference: 'Industry and logistics as pioneers of the green transformation in Central and Eastern Europe

 

                                   

 

 

 

© Professor Alan McKinnon 2024

Kuehne Logistics University
Hamburg
Germany

contactme@alanmckinnon.co.uk

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© Professor Alan McKinnon 2024

 

Kuehne Logistics University
Hamburg
Germany

 

contactme@alanmckinnon.co.uk

 

Contact me

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Sitemap

Reset cookies

 
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