Foreseeing Changes in the Logistics and Supply Chain Market

Alexander Blettgen holds a master degree in Transportation and Logistics. He has worked in several transportation initiatives and has a pragmatic approach to solve logistics problems. His knowledge of distribution processes and growth mindset is incredible. He is known for his commitment and reliability. 

Could you shed some light on your journey and experience in the logistics and supply chain market?

My career in transport and logistics started when I was 14, and I managed the shops, and warehouses along with school. My interest grew over time. During my university studies, I was responsible for an automotive project with the university. After completing my studies, I joined Agility, a global freight forwarder company, where I was responsible for consulting on one side and supply chain solutions on the other.

I have been working with Triumph, a logistics and motorcycle company, for the past six years. Myresponsibilities include global transportation, getting the products to the point of sale, raw materials to the production vendors, and the finished goods to the warehouse by sea or road freight.

What are some challenges that the market is facing right now?

During the pandemic, we struggled with the global capacity crisis in air and sea freight. The capacity crisis may be over now, but we see new challenges in Europe with inflation. With inflation hitting big companies, there will be significant rate increases in the flows, especially in the parcels and the crew.

“The technologies we have used in the past were so volatile, because of which we have had difficulties in the past. We are trying to be more agile to change and amend those mistakes. We are switching to morecentralised tools instead of siloed digital systems”

We are optimistic about the following year in terms of transport. However, there are some difficulties for the food trucks, which are connected to the overall driver shortage and fuel increase. We are focusing on European road freight because we see more problems and issues there, but we foresee a normal year for global air and sea freight.

What technologies do you use to help with the challenges?

The technologies we have used in the past were so volatile, because of which we have had difficulties in the past. We are trying to be more agile to change and amend those mistakes. We are switching to morecentralised tools instead of siloed digital systems.

On the other hand, we are also using central tools. We will use a transportation management system (TMS) in Europe from the next year, so we can easily control our parcels until we have the transit-oriented development (TOD) delivered to the customer.

What are the current trends in the logistics and supply chain?

There are a lot of shipments now, so it is becoming increasingly challenging to manage the freight profitably and deliver them to the customers in the given timeframe. Everyone wants to set up a standard delivery process, and we all need to cope with special processes for which we need more systems and people.

For example, if we have a truck with 33 delivery addresses and 33 different timeframes, it will be difficult for this truck to match these timeframes. If one is delayed, the overall route will be ruined.

On the other side, in the European road freight market, I foresee that demand will decrease, which will help shippers set up a lot of capacity in the market. We will get traction with the tools already implemented to cope with the capacity crisis in the last year.

Do you have any advice for your peers or leaders in the industry?

My general advice would be to stay close to transport partners and have good relationships with them because everyone has struggled in the last few years. Together it’s possible to get the best out of any situation that may arise in the future.

My second advice would be to do business with the carriers, and the transport providers along the chain and not to switch everything off, which can lead to another disruptive market. We should also go into renegotiations whenever we can to really surf the wave and get better deals now because it’s possible. Since we don’t know what the next year will bring, it is better to stay safe.