DIGITALIZATION, TRANSPARENCY, SUSTAINABILITY

Panelists at Breakbulk Europe had the opportunity to make three wishes for the future of project logistics, which included more digitialization, greater transparency, greater cooperation and sharing of information on sustainability, flexibility, better EDI connections with logistics providers, improved proactiveness and mentoring of the older generation to the new to stem a loss of expertise.

The “genie” – session moderator Sven Hermann, managing director of ProLog Innovation – put the offer to speakers on the Planning for the Future of Project Logistics panel, which took place at Breakbulk Europe 2023.

Andreas Ulrich, global head of logistics and supply chain management at SMS group, opted for more digitalization, describing the need to create standard interfaces between logistics providers and project specialists. “I don’t want to use logistics providers’ portals and they do not want to use ours,” he said.

Monika Beckfeld, director of sales at Hansa Meyer Global, wanted industry stakeholders to cooperate more closely and share more information at an earlier stage on green logistics. “It is not a competition to be sustainable,” she said. “We can only manage if we are working as a team.”

Richard Long, senior recruitment consultant for shipping, maritime and logistics at Helm Specialist Recruitment, used his wishes to urge employers in the industry to offer flexibility and clear career progression, encouraging them to reach out to students at a younger age to attract them to project logistics.

Thomas Dahmen, managing director at Siempelkamp Logistics & Service, wished for EDI connections with logistics companies. “We are