Talk with Rosberg

Former Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg appeared at the German Logistics Congress at exactly the right time to compare his former rival Lewis Hamilton with what was happening in the transport industry – and to recognize when it was time to pull together on overarching issues.

 With the energy transition, the coronavirus crisis, the disruption of essential supply chains, and the war in Ukraine, the logistics industry currently finds itself in the eye of a hurricane, whose effects and repercussions are far from easy to manage. Ultimately, innovative but also long-standing emissions issues, for example, must be resolved simultaneously, broken down into numerous individual problems.

Steel from hydrogen and CO2?

Thomas Wimmer, CEO of the German Federal Association of Logistics (BVL), presented a number of approaches to this approach at the start of the industry gathering of more than 2,000 participants, highlighting exemplary measures: measures to combat bottlenecks in supply chains that should no longer rely on individual sources—as in China's case with silicon and rare earths from Russia—on monopoly suppliers, but rather on "multiple sourcing." Digital potential, he says, can be leveraged with companies like Siemens, which explicitly offer to " merge real and virtual worlds " (Although, at the same time, Siemens itself cannot deny the 10 million tons of CO2 produced within the group with around 300,000 employees.)

The Swedish steel manufacturer SMS, explains Katja Wind, member of the management board and BVL board member, is working on a steel mill expected to cost a total of €5.5 billion. It will operate entirely on hydrogen and use CO2, producing this expensive material for the automotive industry with absolutely no additional emissions. After all, steel production contributes 0.7 percent to global economic output – but ten times that to global emissions.  

In the eye of the hurricane. Photos: klk

One of the projects nominated for the German Logistics Award is the result of a project located in the so-called " brownfield " i.e. in " traditional structures " , where a fundamental modernization of intralogistics, material and medication supply was implemented using AI and a digitalization concept.

And when it comes to the “ big chunks ,” Hapag Lloyd has recently been able to facilitate the shipping of heavy goods through automated handling and loading procedures – and also aims to reduce a wide range of emissions to a lower level in this way.

described “ extremely conservative ” – primarily due to its high transport volume and the large proportion of conventional and fossil-fuel-powered transport systems

" make sustainability and electric mobility " as he puts it. Incidentally, as reported, he's now also a " brand ambassador " for forklift manufacturer Jungheinrich.

Logistics - a construction site « per se »        

Cloud4Log, a cooperation project between BVL and GS1 Germany to digitally accelerate the handling of electronic waybills and replace previously rather cumbersome paper documents, is seen as a model here.

Christa Koenen, Head of Digital at Schenker, also has the opportunity to promote the Open Logistics Foundation, which, instead of the usual competition between logistics companies, relies on the catalytic effect of common standards for data exchange. After all, Malcolm McLean, she says, was the one who made the basic principle of the container as a transport container openly available worldwide. As if by chance, she is building a bridge to Nico Rosberg. The now 37-year-old talks about the tough competition – even within the Mercedes racing team, where he competed with Lewis Hamilton for valuable titles. " Even our mechanics became downright enemies at some point and stopped speaking to each other " When it came to beating Ferrari in the final round, everyone suddenly started working together again. Rosberg: " That was like a shock " After all, every detail counts when changing tires, for example. The driver's life depends on everything going according to plan. When it came to the overarching goal, everyone pulled together again. As a result, he " didn't even see Ferrari in the rearview mirror anymore . "

When asked whether the German economy – especially logistics – can distinguish itself with Formula 1 qualities when it comes to issues of sustainability, energy transition, digitalization, and electric mobility, Rosberg answers with a typical racing driver analogy. " We have to shift gears faster " he says.

www.bvl.de