The logistics sector is struggling with ever-shorter delivery times. Carriers and logistics service providers feel continuous pressure to improve their performance and productivity.
This is according to Descartes' annual Fleet Management benchmark, conducted among 106 carriers and logistics service providers. The top three challenges are the same as last year: cost reduction (78 per cent), followed by managing driver performance and improving delivery punctuality.
Pressure to perform
What is new, however, is the pressure companies feel on delivery time, a challenge that ranks fourth this year. 42 per cent of carriers and logistics service providers struggle with this. Eliminating paper processes drops down one spot. "The results from our global benchmark confirm what is experienced daily within the logistics sector: the pressure on performance," said Albert van Roekel, Director Solutions Consultancy at Descartes. "The fact that reducing delivery time is seen as an increasing challenge is a key indicator of this development. And it is quite challenging, especially with the increasingly demanding customer in its wake."
Driver shortage has impact
Companies were also asked to identify some developments that are going to have the most impact on fleet management over the next five years. The shortage of drivers is by far the most frequently answered here (65 per cent). Other developments include increasingly demanding customers and rising fuel costs (both 33 per cent). Mediagenic developments such as self-driving vehicles and crowd-sourced logistics have little impact in the short term, according to respondents.
