“The sector is facing a huge amount of change”

Mr. Rummel, in recent years, transport logistic has become one of the most important international events in the sector. Now that attendees aren’t meeting personally, what have you been able to recreate in the digital space?

Stefan Rummel: Of course we would have loved to be welcoming participants from the international transport and logistics sectors in person at our Munich facilities, but that isn’t possible at the moment. So in order to offer our customers the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas despite the current situation, we are holding transport logistic as a digital conference with three days full of scheduled events. In terms of the breadth and variety of topics, this is a truly exceptional format.

Currently, many companies are struggling with what remains a very difficult situation, so the opportunity to exchange thoughts and knowledge at a trade fair is as important now as ever. Yet the very crisis causing trouble in the sector also prevents people from meeting in person. What kind of personal encounters and opportunities to make contact can transport logistic offer in the online space?

In view of the fact that face-to-face meetings can’t happen, transport logistic is enabling participants to exchange knowledge and information in a virtual sphere. The most important element here is the comprehensive scheduled conference programme, which is like that of a classic trade fair: there are 88 sessions with a range of top-drawer speakers and global industry players, run in cooperation with 35 partners, associations, and publishers. 30 of the sector’s top companies will be presenting themselves in individual sessions, and 40 companies will be inviting participants to networking events. While none of these digital formats can replace the real-life experience of a trade fair, what they can do is offer an opportunity to exchange information and ideas in what is indeed in a very difficult time.

When creating the conference schedule, what were the most important things to consider?

Regardless of the current global public health crisis, the sector is facing a huge amount of change. As such, this year’s transport logistic is concentrating on four key issues: new business models, sustainability, Corona, and airfreight. With new business models, the focus is on the platform economy and digital transformation, while the sustainability issue is primarily about alternative drivetrains and supply chain optimisation; of course there are numerous talks about the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences in logistics; the fourth element is actually a kind of event-within-an-event, the Air Cargo Europe Conference, which is especially important for that part of the sector.

The transport logistic conference has always been an international event: have you had a lot of interest from abroad this year, too?

Overall, there has been very strong interest in the conference: our sponsorship packages sold out quickly and the number of registrations leads us to expect high levels of attendance – although, of course, some of this may be down to the fact that attendance is free. The conference programme will be running in several parallel streams, some in German, some in English – without interpreting. Participants can select the talks they want to attend beforehand or just switch between topics. What we can’t tell yet, of course, is how many people will really attend. We get a lot of last-minute sign-ups in the week prior. In terms of interest from abroad, we think that around 40% of the guests will be from outside of Germany, with the highest level of attendance from our neighbours in Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. (rok)