'Expanding chain cooperation can certainly lead to improvements'

TLN and Logistics Alliance

The economic damage caused by delays in freight transport rose to a record 1.7 billion euros in 2022, research by Panteia showed. The figures for 2023 are not yet known, but for the Logistics Alliance and Transport en Logistiek Nederland (TLN) it is clear: The Netherlands cannot afford slow decision-making or cuts. That is why they continue to lobby in full force.

The Logistics Alliance forms a large network of sixteen Dutch organizations that have joined forces to strengthen trade and logistics. Affiliated parties include companies and knowledge institutes such as Schiphol Airport, ProRail, VNO-NCW and evofenedex. Business association TLN is also affiliated. As one of the largest employers' organizations in our country, it is an authoritative discussion partner for government and politics, board and members, chain partners and other social stakeholders in the field of logistics.

Lobby

Elisabeth Post is board chair of TLN and chair of the Logistics Alliance: "In essence, the logistics sector is very diverse. The common ground between various parties is our need for space, accessibility, sustainability, safety and digitalization. We can call attention to these issues together, because together we can lobby effectively on issues we agree on. After all, we face a huge social challenge in the coming years to get our infrastructure in order and eliminate overdue maintenance."

Accelerate

And lobbying the alliance does. In June, for example, Panteia's research was presented to the House of Representatives and on July 5 it called on the government not to agree to the proposed two billion cut. Unfortunately, the cabinet fell two days later. However, the alliance lobbied tirelessly and subsequently provided input to the political parties for their election programs. "That a cabinet falls can always happen. But it is annoying that urgent decisions are pushed forward as a result. And we already have a backlog, think of the maintenance of our infrastructure. Or logistics centers that are not getting off the ground. But grid congestion is also delaying important issues including sustainability. We hope the new administration will not endlessly research and deliberate, but use the information already available. As an alliance, we will continue to highlight the importance of acceleration and investment." 

Solutions

What can the industry itself do? "Although we are doing well in many areas compared to foreign countries, we can always learn from other countries. I am thinking, for example, of the longer trucks in Spain and Scandinavia that lead to fewer transport movements. Innovation through the application of AI, robotics and smart software are also things that the sector can use to maximize its capacity."

Post concludes, "In addition, joining our forces remains crucial. For example, growing cybercrime can do a lot of damage to our industry. However, protection against cybercrime requires large investments. A difficult task for SMEs. Cooperation can be of great significance here. It is also important that we as a sector look more often at the chain as a whole, instead of focusing only on our own process. If a shipper and a carrier each optimize their own process, this will inevitably lead to inefficiency in the overall process. Improving the process together can solve this. But a logical distribution of goods transport over different modalities can also help make logistics even better. Consider, for example, the Joint Corridors Off-Road program that helps enable multimodal transport corridors off the road. Expanding chain cooperation can certainly lead to improvements within our sector."