The first event at logitrans Turkey today (Wednesday 13th November) was a discussion on logistics innovations and practice ‘Made in Germany’.

Moderated by Stefan Schroder, chief advisor to the Logistics Alliance Germany (LAG), the wide-ranging topics discussed brought the show’s attendees a range of modern thinking on the topic of logistics, including airfreight.

The essential message from the speakers: Schroder; Peter Luttjohann, head of freight transport and logistics of the federal German ministry of transport and digital infrastructure; Holger Dechant, managing director, Universal Transport, Germany; Michael Jansch, CEO Aerotrans Luftfahrtagentur, Germany; and, Gerd Thiebes, board of directors, Am Zehnhoff-Sons, Germany, was that the age of just consigning a shipment based solely on rates are gone.

The shipper and wider stakeholders now demand that forwarders and those who work to reduce climate change, tackle demographic changes and work more efficiently.

Schroder says: “Germany believes in globalisation and industry does not have a ‘German only’ vision.”

He said that the days of next day were gone, people now demand deliveries to the hour.

He added that the importance logistics cannot be over-estimated: “Logistics is the second largest industry in Germany after automotive. In fact, logistics supports automotive work!”

He estimated that logistics in Germany is worth some €259 billion.

“We now work in an era of Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, and lots of other challenges,” he says.

The LAG is a public/private organisation that represents 60,000 companies in the sector, mostly SMEs.

“Not all logistics companies are the size of DB Schenker,” he says.