The world is getting smaller

Mobility is one of the key topics of the twenty-first century, and the significance of logistics as a growth industry and decisive locational factor is correspondingly great.

Germany's third-largest industry

According to a study by the Working Group on the Technologies applied in Logistics Services (ATL) of the Fraunhofer Institute For Integrated Circuits (IIS), German industry spends approx. 170 billion euros on logistics. This puts the logistics business, which has so far not been treated statistically as an industry in its own right, in third place in terms of turnover in Germany, following vehicle manufacturing and the health industry.

For years now six worldwide megatrends have been ensuring the dynamic growth of the logistics industry and promising healthy growth in the future, too. These trends are:

• globalisation
• EU enlargement in eastern Europe
• outsourcing by companies
• new logistics technologies
• demographic change
• protection of the climate and the environment.

The challenge for the future

Because of its central geographical situation within Europe and attractiveness as a business location the Central German Metropolitan Region can play an especially positive role in this development. Key factors in reinforcing this profile as an international logistics hub are the efficient processing of globalised goods flows combined with the development of environmentally-friendly mobility concepts and structures in local public transport facilities.