External Transport for The Warehouse

In the UK, around 1.6 billion tonnes of goods move by air, sea, rail, and road every year. The whole external transport industry has faced complications due to coupled effect of the pandemic and Brexit. Shortage of manpower, lack of container capacity, increased port congestion, and rise in energy prices has had a knock-on effect on the supply chain increasing the problems for every transportation participant throughout the value chain. These new problems have just added to the already existing problems of greenhouse emissions and intensified the question of sustainability in the external transport industry. Recently, the UK Government has significantly funded initiatives for decarbonisation of road, rail, sea, and air freight to achieve net-zero by 2050. Transportation partners have considered digital, automated, and electric solutions to increase visibility, optimize costs, and meet emission standards of the government.

What is External Transport?

External transport in logistics is a sub-unit of logistics that deals with the delivery of products from suppliers to customers using roadways, railways, waterways, or airways. Multi-model transportation uses some combination of freight carriers to deliver the products to the customers.

What are the trends in the External transport industry?

Transportation operators have started to optimize their processes to meet the policies of the government. Companies have started collecting and utilizing data to identify areas of waste, overlap, and standards to enable continuous improvement by tracking performance and improving visibility throughout the journey of the products, from packaging to delivery. Connected containers utilize sensors and next-gen wireless networks to provide real-time data for visibility of global cargo flows. Companies have started using collapsible and modular containers to appropriately size the containers to lower the number of transportation runs and the associated emissions. Further, companies are moving towards zero-emission logistics fleets. A survey of executives from 420 Fortune 1000 companies by Black & Veatch revealed that 89% of these companies have plans to reduce GHG emissions. 53% of these executives indicated that electrifying vehicle fleets is a primary strategy to cut emissions. Some companies are taking it one step further by adopting noise-reduced night operations and better batteries to run their electric fleets.

Not just electric fleets but the driverless HGVs and convoys also have started to make significant headway in the external transportation industry. Some companies are also testing autonomous forklifts, convoys, and Autonomous mobile robots(AMRs) that utilize advanced sensors to navigate floorplans and obstacles.

Impacts of trends in the External transport industry

The real-time transportation data that companies collect will revolutionize the efficiency and end-to-end visibility for the suppliers, warehouse operators, and customers. Optimization along the supply chain will not just lower costs but also lower emissions and energy consumption helping the organisations meet standards set by the government to reach zero emissions by 2050. Zero-emission fleets will redefine external transport and mobility contributing to momentum for green logistics. Autonomous vehicles and convoys used for last-mile delivery will enable self-functioning capabilities reducing dependency on human manpower while making the operations and fleet management highly efficient and productive.

References:

https://publications.aecom.com/media/files/aecom_freight-matters_2021.pdf

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1014140/government-response-to-better-delivery-a-challenge-for-freight.pdf

https://www.bv.com/resources/2021-corporate-sustainability-goal-setting-and-measurement-report?utm_medium=partner&utm_source=association&utm_campaign=decarbonization&utm_content=triplepundit