What to expect for the logistician in 2023?

In 2023, it is unlikely that the situation in logistics will improve dramatically. Rather, difficulties will appear. The negative trends that emerged last year will not disappear quickly. There may be periods of stabilization of working conditions, and positive dynamics will slowly increase. The changes will be external and internal.

1. The quality of goods will fall and prices will continue to rise. So far there are no preconditions for changing this trend and are not foreseen. This also applies to the cost of transportation. In addition, due to the difficulty of forecasting sales, stocks will not increase.
2. Import substitution will grow. However, some investment projects are now frozen due to the change of development course and market instability. The needs of tomorrow are difficult to predict in the current environment. Therefore, long-term investment projects, including import substitution, are a risk zone.
3. Digitalization will gain momentum. But digitalization should be implemented with caution. It is necessary for people to lead the “robots” themselves, not the other way around. It is important to assess the feasibility of digitalization of everything and anything.
4. External influences, sanctions pressure will have a direct impact on people and business. These include tax increases, the introduction of new fees and price increases for all goods and services, including cargo transportation services.
5. Partnerships with new countries, with new suppliers will continue to develop.
6. The trend towards business consolidation and monopolization will continue. This trend is global in nature and is now gaining momentum in Russia. It manifests itself in the absorption of smaller and specialized organizations by large companies. The result is the provision of a large complex of logistics services by a single supplier. If this trend continues to gain momentum, there will be no healthy competitive environment. This means that rates will be formed based on the appetites of a limited number of people. As it already happened when ship owners raised freight prices hundreds of times and nobody could do anything about it.
7. We can expect an increase in the number of unreliable counterparties, cases of fraud, swindlers, cargo theft and others. This tendency is characteristic of hard times. On the other hand, the same circumstances increase people's cohesion, mutual support and humanity. Professional ethics is becoming increasingly important in our work.