Asia drives the global logistics industry

29 May 2017

The shift of economic gravity towards Asia has made a huge difference of the world’s logistics industry, said Bert Hofman, country director of the World Bank, during the 2017 Global Smart Logistics Summit.

With the largest population, Asia keeps making increasing impact on both manufacturing and consuming, and leading the future development of smart logistics, Hofman said at the summit held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Along with it, technology and policies are the other two driving forces that will portray significant role in the future of global logistics.

The digital revolution is still in the initial stage with limitless potential and infinite possibilities. Changeful policies made by governmental and global organizations such as protectionism and global warming issues will spark more interests, diversification and communications among different countries and organizations, Hofman said.

Two major commercial innovations — the letter of credit and the joint stock company — were emphasized in the area of economics, Dhows and steam boats stood for technological driving forces as WTO and Haijing edict (banned shipping) illustrated policies’ strong impact on the development of globalization in positive and negative ways.

He ended the speech by quoting a short passage from William Gibson, “the future is already here, it is just unevenly distributed”, to express best wishes for the future of global logistics.

Hosted by CaiNiao Networks, the theme of this summit for 2017 was “Integration and Advancement”. More than 5000 participants joined this global event.

SOURCE: shanghai daily