Business Logistics Costs Clear $1 Trillion Mark First Time for a Year
WASHINGTON — Although logistics costs for business exceeded $1 trillion for the first time in 2000 and were up two-tenths of a point as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, the real culprit in that change was not poor inventory management but declining sales, according to a privately funded report on the economic condition of the logistics industry authored by Robert Delaney and Rosalyn Wilson.
The report was sponsored by ProLogis, an owner-operator of almost 1,700 distribution facilities in North America and Europe, and St. Louis-based Cass Information Systems, a freight payment services provider for which Delaney is vice president. Delaney, who also is a ProLogis consultant, has been compiling his annual “State of Logistics” reports since 1988.Wilson is an independent consultant who analyzes statistical data and other research in the transportation field.At $1.006 trillion, logistics accounted for 10.1% of GDP last year, up from $921 billion (9.9% of GDP) in 1999, according to figures Delaney and Wilson compiled and that were released at a National Press Club news conference here June 4. For the full story, see the June 11 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
The report was sponsored by ProLogis, an owner-operator of almost 1,700 distribution facilities in North America and Europe, and St. Louis-based Cass Information Systems, a freight payment services provider for which Delaney is vice president. Delaney, who also is a ProLogis consultant, has been compiling his annual “State of Logistics” reports since 1988.Wilson is an independent consultant who analyzes statistical data and other research in the transportation field.At $1.006 trillion, logistics accounted for 10.1% of GDP last year, up from $921 billion (9.9% of GDP) in 1999, according to figures Delaney and Wilson compiled and that were released at a National Press Club news conference here June 4. For the full story, see the June 11 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
