Due to the highly competitive environment, PST CLC Mitsui-Soko has faced pressure on freight rates throughout the past year and a similar trend continues this year. In addition, carriers are facing a shortage of drivers, resulting in a lack of capacity. A number of carriers are running into problems, but this is a challenge for strong players in the market, for whom this opens up new opportunities. There is a growing interest in intermodal transport, particularly a combination of rail and road transport within Europe.
Intermodal transport is a greener solution. “Companies today are increasingly concerned about the carbon footprint of their operations. This is also fuelling the growing interest in intermodal transport. I think that carbon footprinting will be much more important in the future. It can be assumed that lorry transport will decline in terms of volumes and that intermodal transport will grow much more. This will not be a rapid trend, but a gradual one,” predicts Jan Bláha, Director of Transport at PST CLC Mitsui-Soko.
He adds that carriers are facing a number of problems, including the aforementioned shortage of drivers, which has long been unresolved even with incentives and incentive programmes. “In our company, we offer to pay for complete training, i.e. the extension of the driver’s licence, including the professional licence, to those interested in driving, yet there is still a shortage of drivers,” says Jan Bláha.
PST CLC Mistui-Soko is currently focusing, among other things, on streamlining its internal systems, which will make things easier for operations staff and increase efficiency
The company also places emphasis on tracking shipments, and the system is constantly being improved. “We are intensively monitoring the possibilities that artificial intelligence brings to our business. Its development is still at the beginning, but we are already focusing on how we can implement it in our processes,” says Jan Bláha.
