The traditional approach to global freight management in the logistics industry faces challenges at every step due to process delays, product theft, and spoilage, lack of supply chain visibility, and resource limitations. Missteps and uninformed decisions in supply chain and logistics operation create havoc and translate into damaged customer relationships. Despite the challenges, the logistics industry continues to develop, as the industry has become truly global with a growing demand for eCommerce and increased customer expectations. The global logistics industry is fragmented in nature and operates at low margins with staff shortages in the commercial trucking and labor-intensive industry segments. The Internet of Things (IoT) is making waves in the supply chain and logistics sectors with the advent of digital technologies, and it holds the answer to several challenges because it can enable the logistics industry stakeholders to have agile and streamlined operations. IoT-as-a-solution has evolved a long way, and today, logistics is not just about freight movement and IoT-powered tracking solutions with sensor tags to understand the physical location of freight. Applications of IoT has progressed to accurate status updates about freight and resources involved, identification of operational bottlenecks, and isolation of logistics process delays and risks. With the emergence of 5G networks and artificial intelligence (AI) applications, IoT solutions enable stakeholders in the logistics industry to create efficiencies in their operations and deliver in-transit freight conditions and operating fleet details so they can execute effective remedial actions when required and ensure profitability and service innovation. The global maritime and container-line industry is focused on developing digital platforms for transparent pricing. However, a few industry leaders have been using IoT to digitize their physical infrastructures to offer a new generation of services. Resource safety management and sustainable business solutions have become the key industry focus areas, with IoT solutions. The road transportation sector, which relies on telematics to deliver connected assets for smart and integrated logistics operations, leads the race in terms of IoT adaption and optimisation. The connected logistics ecosystem with IoT devices with AI-powered cloud-based solutions creates an enormous impact on the end-to-end logistics value chain, delivering workaround insights for cost and resource optimization, to ensure effective disaster and risk management.

This study analyses how the global logistics industry spends on IoT solutions. It provides regional market overviews and their respective shares, drivers, and adoption barriers and identifies key trends and application areas in the end-to-end logistics value chain. This study also identifies the new-generation services and transformational growth opportunities in a strategic partner ecosystem so that logistics industry participants can deliver future-proof connected solutions for smart logistics operation.