St. Gallen, October 6, 2022. How do shippers cope with fluctuating freight rates in logistics? The University of St. Gallen investigated this question with a broad study consortium from the logistics industry. The result is a 132-page study that addresses challenges, practices and instruments. Militzer & Münch was involved in the study.
For several years Militzer & Münch is a member of the support association of the Institute for Supply Chain Management at the University of St. Gallen. The institute sees itself as an international platform for dialogue between science and practice in the field of supply chain management. Holger Seehusen, Managing Director of M&M air sea cargo GmbH, is regularly involved in various activities. He saw his participation in the study as an opportunity to demonstrate which practices shippers, freight forwarders and brokers can use to counteract fluctuating freight rates in logistics markets.
Fluctuating freight rates and sustainability
The study entitled “Managing Volatility in Logistics Markets” examines the fluctuations in freight rates for sea, road, rail and air modes of transport and examines management practices from the perspective of shippers and logistics service providers. In addition, it provides a classification and analysis of indices and digital business models in the freight sector, thereby making a significant contribution to a better understanding of the instruments available on the market and their individual value propositions for shippers, freight forwarders and freight carriers. In addition to fluctuating freight rates, aspects of sustainability are also becoming increasingly important. “I am convinced that decision-makers and customers will soon no longer care so much about whether it costs x € per kilogram, but rather how high the CO2 footprint is when procuring the goods,” says Holger Seehusen.
Workshops and Interviews
After the official project start in August 2021, workshops took place in the following three months and the final presentation took place in December 2021. Work on the study then began. In addition to the University of St. Gallen and Militzer & Münch further logistics service providers, shippers, IT providers and a business law firm.
In addition to the regular exchange in the study consortium, 44 interviews with logistics experts were collected between the beginning of September and the end of November and used as data sources for the development of the study.
“We have defined relevant criteria in order to carry out a suitable segmentation of logistics markets,” says Prof. Dr. Erik Hofmann from the University of St. Gallen. “Based on these criteria, e.g. geographical range, mode of transport and load carriers, we examined four relevant logistics scenarios. Our aim with the study was to provide practitioners with a basis for implementing concrete solutions.”
The study is available free of charge to those interested at the following link: https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/266520/
Supply Chain Innovation Day
Participation in the study is only part of Militzer & Münch in the support association of the Institute for Supply Chain Management at the University of St. Gallen. In order to get young people excited about the topic of logistics and to draw attention to Militzer & To draw attention to Münch as an employer, Holger Seehusen was a speaker at the Supply Chain Innovation Day in Rorschach on Lake Constance initiated by the University of St. Gallen last year. Militzer & Münch was also represented there with a small information stand. This year Eva-Charlotte Dürr, Group Project Manager Pharmaceuticals at M&M Militzer & Münch International Holding AG, Switzerland, and Vignesh Pandi – Tradelane Manager North America Airfreight of M&M air sea cargo GmbH, Germany, took part in the Supply Chain Innovation Day on September 27th.