The World Bank has released the seventh edition of its Logistics Performance Index (LPI) report, which evaluates countries’ abilities to transport goods across borders with speed and reliability.
This report comes after the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to global supply chains over the last three years, resulting in longer delivery times.
The LPI covers 139 countries and measures factors such as the quality of logistics services, trade and transport-related infrastructure, and border controls to assess the ease of establishing reliable supply chain connections.
On average, it takes 44 days for a container to move between exporting and destination ports, representing 60 percent of the time it takes to trade goods internationally.
Mona Haddad, the World Bank’s Global Director for Trade, Investment, and Competitiveness, emphasized the importance of logistics in international trade, stating that the LPI helps developing countries identify areas where they can make improvements to boost their competitiveness.
The report highlights that end-to-end supply chain digitalization is allowing countries, especially emerging economies, to shorten port delays by up to 70% compared to developed countries.
In addition, there is an increasing demand for environmentally friendly logistics, with 75 percent of shippers looking for green options when exporting to high-income countries.
The report recommends policies to improve reliability, such as investing in infrastructure, adopting digital technologies, and incentivizing sustainable logistics by shifting to less carbon-intensive freight modes and more energy-efficient warehousing.
The biggest delays occur at seaports, airports, and multimodal facilities, according to the report’s co-author, Christina Wiederer, a Senior Economist with the World Bank Group. She emphasizes that policies targeting these facilities can help improve reliability.
