WebXpress, a global transportation and logistics SaaS provider, has identified a few key trends in the logistics sector which will be trendsetters in 2022. Covid-19 has shaken the roots of the well-oiled world of Logistics. Before Covid-19, most companies assumed seamless movements, stable freight rates, unlimited capacity, and minimum buffer. But an even bigger disruption is on the way as major economies enforce climate commitments and consumers force companies to comply with them.
Many new business models enabled by tech will emerge to essentially help companies collaborate across countries to reduce their overall carbon footprint. Be it the solar power grids or electric bikes, energy conservation is the need of the hour and green logistics tech is the future.
Logistics companies will need to invest in climate measurement tools to check shipment level carbon footprint. Green audit tools will tell companies to balance customer and product portfolios. These tools will provide granular data at shipment level, vehicle level, and route level to help companies focus on reducing carbon emissions every day.
Supply chains were built to manage shocks from a few localised extreme weather events such as hurricanes, snow, and rains. But such events are now widespread and ever more intense. Logistics companies will build real-time data at the province level, highway level, and even city level to manage the impact. These tools will stop or reroute shipment based on real-time data on road or city closures.
One of the impacts of climate goals is the adoption of EVs. But as EV production will take time to ramp up, companies will need to share resources. EV Sharing Tech will help logistics companies to re-use EV assets or share them by consolidating loads. Companies can share EV charging infrastructure rather than replicate in every location. Companies will also invest in battery inventory and share it with each other to ensure uptime of EV assets.
Carbon Trading will well and truly take off in many ways, across many economies. A truck owner in India can get funding to replace his 15-year-old fleet with latest vehicles with 30 per cent less emissions. A warehouse in Rajasthan will sell Solar Power to grid and offer reduced rents to customers. Amazon will use electric bikes deployed in India to offset increased investment in same day delivery in USA.
Apurva Mankad, CEO and Founder, WebXpress commented, “World is entering a new phase of energy challenges. There will be a gap between cutting fossil fuel dependence while ramping up green energy sources. Logistics is one of the biggest emitter and its also technically easier to solve the issue of excess emission when compared to cement production. All you need to do is convert all vehicles to EV and run all warehouse on Solar energy. Of course, the reality will be far more complex and it will vary across nations. Companies need to offset emissions in one part of the supply chain with initiatives in distant locations. Here, technology will play a crucial role to track every movement, every km and measure its impact. The coming decade belongs to global green tech.”
