Future news of international freight transport markets — what to expect and how to be prepared

Abstract

Transport and logistics have to be understood and analyzed at international and interregional scales because of fast growing international trade, developments in specific transport corridors, and the ongoing concentration process of international, multi-modal logistics providers. This paper describes the current situation of international transport markets, the main trends and driving forces of the process are analyzed, some selected issues are projected into the future, and major impacts on regional and urban levels are derived. The paper finds that freight transport might be growing even faster within the next ten years than generally assumed. New solutions in different elements of the logistics value chain, elimination of current bottlenecks, and enhanced business models of multi-modal, international cooperation, and rational transport policies seem to be the candidate fields of action in this context. Nevertheless, risks of declining environmental qualities around logistics hubs and corridors have to be considered.