🌍🚛 Building Resilient Global Logistics: Highlights from SIG B3’s November Seminar
Global logistics face growing challenges—from infrastructure upgrades to environmental challenges. On November 14, we hosted an inspiring online session tackling intermodal transport resilience, featuring industry experts like Jürgen Albersmann (CEO, Contargo Trimodal Network).
🚧 Key Takeaways:
1) Rail Corridor Overhauls: Germany’s major rail corridors will undergo extensive maintenance over the next decade. With 2,400 km of tracks scheduled for updates, prolonged closures will significantly disrupt logistics.
2) Capacity Strains: Available detour routes lack sufficient capacity to absorb displaced freight, intensifying network congestion.
3) Unplanned Disruptions: Strikes, infrastructure failures, IT outages, and staffing shortages at critical nodes exacerbate the impact of planned construction work.
4) Technical Limitations: Although longer trains pose a potential solution, they are deprioritized because lines and passing tracks are not designed for longer trains.
With global insights from Gilbert Bal (Senior Business Manager, Port of Rotterdam) and Eric C. Shen, P.E., PTP, F.ITE (CEO, Shen and Associates, LLC, and former senior US government official), the panel offered a candid perspective: there are no quick fixes for the industry's challenges, but progress is possible.
💡 Actionable Strategies:
Technological Innovation: Adapting barge technology to address climate challenges, such as low water levels, is essential for maintaining inland waterway efficiency.
Strategic Freight Shifting: Redirecting volumes to alternative corridors to alleviate bottlenecks.
Buffer Creation: Building network capacity to manage both planned and unforeseen disruptions.
Enhanced Digital Integration: Strengthening communication systems for more agile rerouting.
✨ A big thank you to our speakers and attendees for an engaging session. We look forward to continuing the conversation. Stay tuned for the next SIG B3 seminar in 2025! 🚀
Ralf Elbert Elenna Dugundji Mahnam Saeednia Gunnar Stefansson Fachgebiet Unternehmensführung und Logistik – Technische Universität Darmstadt #WCTRS