Logistics

Global Flow of Goods

The movement of goods has reached $15 trillion in 2017 and has registered a growth of 0.2% in the first quarter of 2018.

We live in a world where everything and everyone moves fast and faster. In the last few years, the movement of goods and services worldwide has registered unprecedented changes that have led to registering all times records, which even the most optimistic analysts couldn’t forecast a couple of decades back. Such flows and movements are the synonyms of connected economies and countries. It also means that nowadays, it’s of utmost difficulty if not an impossibility to remain unconnected and not part of the global flow of goods and services in a way or another.

According to the World Trade Organization, the movement of goods has reached $15 trillion in 2017 and has registered a growth of 0.2% in the first quarter of 2018. If we take a more in-depth look, the world has a recorded value of $35 trillion in 2017 that includes imports and exports. In other words, the movement of goods and services has reached $45 trillion in 2017 which represents 33% of global GDP. Here comes the importance of global logistics which are responsible for facilitating the transportation of more than 90% of global trade.

Trade in goods and services refers to the change in ownership of material resources and services between one economy and another. The indicator comprises sales of products and services as well as barter transactions or goods exchanged as part of gifts or grants between residents and non-residents. It is measured in a million dollars and as a percentage of GDP for net trade and also annual growth for exports and imports.

Logistics 3PL, 4PL, and 5PL

Where do you stand within the logistics value chain?

The logistics value chain has seen loads of developments to cater to the growing movement of goods and merchandise. From traditional shipping companies that own fleets of vessels, the world of logistics has evolved to more packaged service offering featuring different players and roles. Hence, this led to the birth of novel concepts such as third-party logistics, that relates to service providers that only own the goods at the time of their transportation. 4PL and 5PL, on the other hand, refer to when a company delivers and transports products to fulfill particular requirements.

Logistics 4.0

Technology adoptions to unleash the full potential of your logistics operations

As one of the essential and vital industries, logistics have seen technological developments that are on the way to reinvent loads of traditional concepts and standards. All these developments aim from the one hand to smoothen the flow of goods and from the other side to optimize the value chain. For instance, we have recently seen the introduction of UAVs as well as the raise autonomous trucks and vessels.

How good are your logistics doing? What is your level of automation? With how many partners you are working? Are you making sure that you are using the most optimum routes? Have you ever thought of consolidating shipments? Do you own your stock or outsource it? Are you using vendor managed inventory and consignment stocks? How are your reporting your logistics KPIs? Do you have real-time insights on the movement of your goods and services? How many warehouses are you operating? How can you benefit from technological developments to revolutionize your logistics?

Seasoned experts at El Arras & Partners are a call away and will make sure that you accurately assess your logistics value chain and be your partner in unveiling ways to optimize and digitize it.

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