A representative Bitkom survey of more than 500 German logistics companies indicated that a large majority of respondents see digital technologies as a significant competitive advantage. These technologies include AI-based route planning, additive manufacturing processes, autonomous vehicles and blockchain as the backbone of a digitalized supply chain. These companies hope to achieve faster transport (92%), falling costs (85%), less vulnerability in the transport chain (79%) and more environmentally friendly transport options (69%).

However, many of the technologies already available are used much too infrequently. Just 6% of the companies surveyed utilize artificial intelligence, or AI; only 4% have blockchain technology. While many storage facilities are already digitalized to a great extent, most of the respondents expect that they will not have full-coverage use of digital platforms (76%) or artificial intelligence (71%) until 2030. The Bundesvereinigung Logistik (Federal Logistics Association [BVL]) considers this a risk for the industry : Lagging progress in digitalization might cost them their ability to cope with whatever the future holds.