Logistics: No more autopilot! | L’Economiste

After a two-year break, people from the logistics sector met again at the Logismed trade show. “We don’t know if the pandemic is behind us, but that doesn’t prevent us from planning and anticipating the future”, said Ali Berrada at the start of the International Transport and Logis­tics Exhibition on Tuesday, June 14, in Casablanca.

“The health crisis has certainly complicated our lives, but it has also brought opportunities in its wake”, said the president of Logis­med. This is one of the sectors that has been strongly impacted by the Covid crisis, geostrategic upheavals (war in Ukraine), disruptions in supply chains, or even the lack of visibility, and uncer­tainties of all kinds. “The growing complexity of new factors, uncertainty, or even environmental constraints do force us to adopt evolving strategies. Digital technologies are precisely a lever that makes it possible to adopt agile solutions”, said the minister in charge, Mohammed Abdeljalil. The new geostrategic crisis, the rise in energy products, and the disruption of supply chains have disrupted the mar­ket, added the minister. In its New De­velopment Model (NMD), Morocco has chosen to rise up to many econo­mic challenges. Precisely, logistics is one of the strategic levers of this new model, said Mohammed Abdeljalil. Today, 10 years after the roll out of the national logistics competitiveness stra­tegy, “the goals have not yet all been achieved”, deplored the minister in charge. The challenge is to speed up the pace of achievements and multiply investments, which notably involves digitalisation, innovative solutions, greater agility and efficiency, impro­vement of quality, or permanent adap­tation to the new needs of a constantly changing market. To achieve this, “the Government must play a unifying role in the sense of strategic alignment. A catalyst role to support innovative initiatives. The challenge is to move towards modern, competitive logis­tics with efficient players, as well as consolidated, adapted and massified value chains…”, insists Minister Mo­hammed Abdeljalil. The sector still has many challenges to meet, in par­ticular, reliance on energy, additional fuel costs (more than 40% of costs for carriers), basic infrastructure (roads, ports, airports, platforms, etc.), adop­tion of technology, the vulnerability of businesses, the proliferation of the informal sector, the cost of land, the environmental footprint, and other challenges. There are also problems related to the perception of this eco­system. Specialists recommend rethin­king the economic model, constantly readjusting strategies towards greater agility, efficiency, responsiveness, and proximity. This can be summarized in two words: operational excellence. The trend is also towards the development and diversification of sources of supply or even end-to-end digitization.

Amin RBOUB