The impact of Covid-19 on transport and logistics companies

The year 2020 is already marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, which since March has been spreading in Brazil. The consequences of the shutdown in many sectors, employee reductions and protective measures brought about some changes and also losses for many companies.

One of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic was Transport and Logistics, which, while increasing its demand for services, had to lay off employees and adapt processes.

According to a survey recently released by CNT – Confederação Nacional do Transporte – on the impact of COVID-19 on the transport segment, 41.80% of companies have their financial health very compromised, 27.90% of them have a financial situation balanced and with payment capacity, 27.40% consider themselves partially committed and 2.90% did not respond to the survey.

The survey, which included 858 cargo and passenger companies, of all modes of transport, between the 9th and 15th of July, also pointed out that 52% of them applied for credit during the pandemic, but 54.30% had your request is denied.

How to prepare for the resumption

With such a negative financial scenario for most transport companies , as reported by the survey, the main question for the coming months of commercial recovery is how to rebuild and gain competitiveness again?

For a Transport and Logistics company to reinvent itself in a time of pandemic, there are four fundamental factors that need to be on the radar:

• Profitability : Not just in the concept of profit and loss, but analyzing which costs are beneficial for your company and making the best use of them, either through training for the team or investments in new products. It is extremely important to go beyond financial indicators to focus on results;
• Processes : Often the low profitability of the company is the result of a wrong or poorly executed process, for this reason this is a highly relevant factor that must be observed and, when necessary, changed so that the final result is optimized;
• Technology : Most of the time, for a company to modify its process, it needs to be supported by technology and process automation. And this is perhaps one of the only positive points of the pandemic, technological advancement and digital culture in all segments, being a fundamental requirement for any company;
• Transformation : It will be the final result of the combination of the three previous factors. Carriers must aim for digital transformation above all else, as well as reducing costs and optimizing delivery services.

Technology combined with the recovery process

A study carried out by the Sociedade Brasileira de Varejo indicated that 61% of customers who bought online during the quarantine increased their consumption via e-commerce as a result of social isolation and, in 46% of cases, this increase exceeded 50%. Due to the increase in consumption, transport and logistics companies needed to reinvent themselves quickly so that the consumer did not have to deal with such long waiting times or expensive freight. To help in this process of adapting to changes in digital habits, many companies have adopted cloud technology in their systems.

Cloud technology minimizes all manual processes, optimizes time, reduces downtime, automates processes and provides real-time data extraction so that the company can obtain the best results from them. In a survey carried out by Sky.One , it was concluded that costs (27.27%), agility (22.73%) and innovation (20%) are among the pressure factors most faced by the area of IT within companies, and these are the main responsible for making the decision to migrate operating systems to the cloud, in order to reduce costs , increase the speed of the operation and innovate in the way of delivering the product to the consumer Final.

The survey also revealed the main automation technologies that Transport and Logistics companies have been looking for when migrating their software to the cloud: tracking and monitoring systems (23%), real-time information (20.5%), systems routing (13%), electronically checking cargo (12%), warehouse management system (11%), automating tasks in yard management (10.5%) and use of data collectors with smartphones (10% ).

It is notable that technologies have helped carriers to have more visibility and control of the flow of  logistical . Without the adoption of technologies, new processes and without looking at profitability, it becomes impossible to achieve the necessary transformation to relocate in the market. In current times, the rule is simple: those who adapt, survive. In that sense, we have a learning opportunity here. Technology can be a great ally to reinvent your business right now. Click here and talk to an expert to find out how Sky.One can be the best partner on this journey!