The pandemic that emerged in 2020 has considerably marked the logistics sector and especially the maritime industry, which is very linked to economic development, supply chains, and consumption. Due to these effects, business strategies had to focus on avoiding uncertainty and achieving fast adaptation in front of imminent changes. With that in mind, we decided to share the trends that every logistics director must know to prepare for this year.
2021 trends for the logistics sector are clearly influenced by the advance of new technologies from the Maritime Industry 4.0 and the Digital Age, which revolutionized the entire industry. The priority is to achieve a flexible logistic, capable of adapting to changes through digitization, which is imminent since it gives us the push that we all need to achieve it.
2021 Trends that every logistics director must know
We share with you the list of 2021 logistics trends:
- New professional profiles: digital experts.
To guarantee an efficient digitization management, it’s essential to count on leaders that have the ability and capability needed to carry them. These profiles will be more and more demanded and promoted in the logistics sector considering the new ways to work in 2021.
- Green logistics and alternative energy.
Achieving sustainable logistics is needed and demanded because of the concern to reduce air, ground, and water contamination caused by logistics activities, which is increasing. Because of that, using electric vehicles, raw materials obtained from sustainable sources, biodegradable packages, reused materials, and fomenting energy saving will continue to be a trend this year.
As a response, some automated solutions for offices, warehouses, and even ports are emerging, to reduce energy consumption and achieve a high supply chain performance.
- Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things.
Nowadays, we can find Artificial Intelligence in various areas of our personal and professional life. In the logistics sector, they’re also getting noticed because using it we can optimize our time, program our shipments with lower costs and better routes, etc. The Internet of Things, on the other side, allows us to interconnect every part involved in the supply chain, which reduces operational costs and offers better visibility in the transportation following.
These two technologies are especially useful for those companies that want to predict the market behavior, consumption trends, and route selection, as they anticipate the changes coming.
- Big Data and data analysis.
With an efficient utilization of information, we can offer better services for our customers and Big Data, which means the compilation, process, and analysis of a big amount of data, gives us rewarding information to achieve it. Besides, we can analyze our performance, identify improvement points and take action to increase productivity.
- The cloud, cybersecurity, and blockchain.
Due to the lockdown, the utilization of “the cloud” as a channel to share information between parties has been booming. But this interchange requires more security because we’re talking about important information for companies. As a cybersecurity response, a few years ago blockchain technology has emerged and will still be one of the 2021 trends in the logistics sector.
This technology increases agility and security, facilitating the communication between the different agents in the supply chain and, as a result, mitigating mistakes. This also gives reliability and transparency to all parties involved.
- Personalization or Customer Center.
Customers will continue to demand more and more personalization, so companies now must think of this point as a corporate strategy that adds value to the services offered, and keeps competitiveness.
Because of that, Customer Center will be an area more needed inside the logistics companies, which should be integrated by experts in following the steps of a lead to determine how and when to contact them. Here we will also need to be nourished with information generated by data analysis to shape an action plan consistent with each profile.
So, new year, new changes. And we must be prepared to face them in the best way possible. 2021 trends for the logistics sector give us a better understanding to know how to do it as we keep up with the technological advances. At Cargofive, we know that now is crucial to give a better service, so with renewed energies, we are willing to help those freight forwarders that want to join this new era.
