Logistics Challenges Along the New Silk Roads

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping advised to establish the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” also referred as the Belt and Road Initiative or the New Silk Roads Policy. The intention is to promote international and regional trade as well as cooperation in and between Asia and Europe. Consequently, international maritime and terrestrial freight transport corridors are either established or strengthened and operated. The purpose of this paper is to reflect the Belt and Road Initiative from the perspective of logistics. The aim is to identify and formulate circumstances, expectations, opportunities, and peculiarities of logistics along the New Silk Roads. For this purpose, four corresponding challenges will be considered and outlined after an introduction to the Belt and Road Initiative. The four logistics challenges concern the awareness of new freight transport corridors and the assessment of possibilities for opening new transport relations and new markets, the implementation of new and the adaptation of existing supply chains to increase strategic logistics flexibility, the availability and use of digital infrastructure and connectivity for improved communication and coordination of logistical processes, and the willingness to consider regional and cultural differences in the preparation and realization of supply chain decisions.