Amelia Grant

With increasing competition in the transport sector, companies must introduce new existing technologies and significantly improve the quality of their services in order to stay afloat. What strategies will be successful in the near future of the logistics industry?

Delivery of goods is a significant part of the economy of each country. According to Statista, freight traffic amounted to more than $150 billion US dollars for the country's gross domestic product in 2017. Only FedEx, the leading freight shipping company, received over $60 million. Logistics companies are mainly focused on servicing the e-commerce market.

The key to success in the transport business is to ensure the profitability, flexibility, and efficiency of the services provided. That is why companies must implement modern strategies and trends in the industry in order to compete with other market participants.

Top 7 Trends

1. Safe Roads with Electronic Devices

Electronic log devices (ELD) can have a significant impact on the transport industry. By limiting driver work hours to fifty hours a week, with two days off, these devices can make roads safer by notifying drivers of the need for rest. At the same time, carriers will no longer be able to carry as much cargo as they could before introducing ELD, but the cost of these devices will be included in the cost of carrier services.

2. Unmanned Trucks

Technology for unmanned trucks is still in the process of improvement. There are certain obstacles that its developers face. One of these difficulties is the improvement of the software so that it can work effectively on city roads with heavy traffic. However, this is one of the future trends in the field of transport. 

In the long term, transport companies must begin to prepare for the upcoming technological changes in the industry and begin to equip their trucks with self-navigation systems that can “learn” from the experience of real drivers.

Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and countless sensors, an AI-capable vehicle can correctly assess road conditions and learn how truck drivers behave in “non-standard” road conditions. In addition, by sharing data between cars, trucks can share the information received and make other similar vehicles smarter. In the long run, these vehicles could potentially become even better drivers than people. Many new passenger cars are also incorporating similar technologies. So if you ever lease a car, chances are it will have some AI capability.

3. Compliance

It is more correct to say that compliance with the rules is more the obligation of each transport company and not a trend. Commercial carriers should keep up with the latest standards and regulations adopted, amended, or replaced by any local, state, or federal government.

4. Blockchain in Logistics

Blockchain is becoming one of the new trends in the transportation industry. One of the promising areas of use of the blockchain technology in the field of transportation is to ensure the accuracy and truthfulness of the records that reflect the performance, service history and various other indicators of vehicles over time.

When a truck is sold as a used one, potential buyers may have questions about how the vehicle was operated. Since blockchain transactions are immutable and transparent, all parties involved in the transaction can be confident that the information about the vehicle is accurate.

Another promising way to use the blockchain in the transport industry is monitoring payloads. One of the factors on which the cost of transportation depends is the volume of cargo and its weight. Using the technology of Internet of Things (IoT) can help determine the amount of space occupied by a particular load. This data can be used to calculate shipping costs.

5. Targeted Delivery

The growth of the e-commerce market leads to an increase in demand for targeted supplies. Providing better service means higher competitiveness. Large trucking companies should consider adding a fleet of smaller vehicles to conquer most of the market. However, targeted delivery can lead to tight delivery schedules or even additional risks in the supply chain. Anyway, targeted delivery is one of the trends in the transport and logistics industry.

6. Distribution of Low-Cost Airlines

Low-cost airlines have gained significant market share and provide a major impact on airfares prices, especially in Europe and North America. They have differentiated levels of service that satisfy undemanding customer service to allow such customers to pay only for a minimal set of services.

Low-cost companies are expanding rather aggressively, reducing prices to ensure a sufficient flow of passengers for their aircraft. Some of them are focused on both national and international flights. Their low price is mainly due to the low labor costs in the countries in which they operate and the less fuel they need to cover the distances. That is why transport companies should strive to improve the efficiency of their services.

7. Delivery by Drones

As part of the growing trend of targeted delivery, some retailers and the transport industry are already testing the delivery of small loads using drones. At the end of 2016, for the first time, Amazon delivered an order to its client using an unmanned aerial vehicle. This delivery was carried out in England under the new Amazon program called Prime Air, which involves receiving an order within 30 minutes.

After the success of Amazon, various companies began to invest in the delivery of drones to increase the profitability of their business. Given the promising possibilities of such a technological approach, delivery by drones will be among the main trends in the transport market in 2020.

Taking into account that the development of new technologies will only accelerate in the near future, transport companies should stay abreast of how the industry is changing. With increasing costs for fuel, auto parts, etc., transport companies should apply new methods and strategies to increase their efficiency. For the same purpose, they must look in the future.