The strategic contribution of carrier selection towards structuring sustainable transport services

(Wolfgang Stölzle, Thorsten Klaas-Wissing, Nicole Kudla; chair of logistics management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland)

The goods transport prognosis of the German Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS) shows a rapid increase in goods transport from 3.7 billion to about 5.5 billion tons and in transport services from 600 billion tkm  to 1,200 billion tkm¹ in Germany. At the same time, the EU and the German government are discussing a cost increase of emission trade for air transport, the introduction or expansion of the night-flying ban, the extension of the Euro tax disc guidelines and the decree on CO₂ emission limits. In addition, with the rising fuel and energy prices and the increasing climate protection requirements transport logistic services are facing completely new challenges.

Even though customers are still not ready to pay more for sustainable services, the industry will increasingly be confronted in the future with ecologically-driven customer demands. Given the same price-performance ratio, about 81 percent of the companies interviewed in a study by the German Association of Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics and Lörrach University of Cooperative Education would prefer a service provider who is comparatively more ecologically responsible. Conscious demand for climate-neutral as well as ecologic products has lately dramatically increased amongst private customers and will not stop given the current and increasingly controversial debate around energy prices and climate protection. Sustainability is becoming an important differentiating factor.

¹tkm = ton kilometre