Supply chains are carrying heavier operational and financial strain, yet the logistics sector is pushing ahead with structural change. New research from Bundesvereinigung Logistik (BVL) shows that digitalisation, cost discipline, and cybersecurity now sit at the core of executive agendas, with widening gaps between strategic intent and on-the-ground execution.
A Sector Advancing, but With Persistent Implementation Gaps
According to the BVL’s latest Trends and Strategies in Logistics and Supply Chain Management 2025/26 study, based on responses from 202 industry professionals, most organisations continue to move forward on digitalisation but still struggle to operationalise it at scale. Cybersecurity, end-to-end process digitalisation, and cost pressure emerge as the top trends for the coming two years.
Seventeen of the 21 trends assessed have grown in relevance since 2023, reflecting a marked rise in supply chain complexity. Automation and business analytics show the sharpest gains, with average relevance scores of 4.21 and 4.18 respectively on a five-point scale. Artificial intelligence follows with a score of 3.98, highly important, but also the area where readiness remains weakest.
Recent trade reporting reinforces this tension. As supply chains increase system interconnectivity and shift toward API-based planning, regulators such as the EU are pushing for stronger cyber-resilience standards, adding further urgency to closing digital maturity gaps.
AI Tops the List of Structural Pain Points
The biggest disconnect between ambition and capability lies in AI. The BVL study finds that 57.9% of companies feel unprepared to embed AI into logistics workflows, placing it at the top of the sector’s “trend pain point” ranking. Inadequate process integration and inconsistent data foundations continue to limit the technology’s actual operational value. Digitalisation gaps (57.9%) and cost pressure (57.4%) follow closely.
The report notes that digital transformation is now mainstream. Nearly 99% of companies acknowledge its importance, and adoption rates are steadily rising. Fewer than one in five companies say they have not yet adapted their business model to digitalisation. Still, maturity levels remain uneven: 74.3% of organisations believe they lag at least one stage behind where they should be, pointing to resource constraints, data fragmentation, and underdeveloped cross-functional strategies.
Sustainability presents a similar dichotomy. While the share of companies with advanced sustainability implementation has increased by 7.9 percentage points in two years, relevance scores have softened. Only 61.4% consider sustainability “very” or “extremely” relevant today, compared to 86.1% for digitalisation and 80.2% for resilience. Market uptake for low-carbon logistics solutions remains slower than expected, despite tightening reporting mandates such as the CSRD.
Resilience Rises as Disruption Outpaces Expectations
Resilience is becoming non-negotiable. Companies reporting high or very high implementation levels for resilient supply chains increased by 10.1 percentage points. Yet disruption intensity has outstripped expectations: perceived disruption levels today are roughly 35% higher than organisations anticipated in 2023.
Cyber incidents and geopolitical tensions are now viewed as the most significant external risks. Nearly half of respondents have adopted systematic risk management approaches, and another 39% are executing targeted mitigation measures. Larger enterprises still lead in resiliency investments, though smaller firms are accelerating efforts, particularly in supplier mapping and multi-node risk monitoring.
The findings align with broader industry trends, where cyberattacks on logistics operators and manufacturers have triggered material service interruptions and regulatory scrutiny. Recent data shows that transportation and industrial firms remain among the most targeted sectors globally, highlighting why resilience has climbed steadily in strategic importance.
Beyond the Triple Transformation
BVL’s central theme, the sector’s “triple transformation” across digitalisation, sustainability, and resilience, remains aspirational. While 80.5% of companies rate it as highly or extremely relevant, only 4.2% report strong progress across all three dimensions. For most organisations, significant gaps persist between ambition and execution, with digital foundations emerging as the primary enabler still underdeveloped.
The study concludes that logistics networks capable of embedding digitalisation more strategically, particularly through AI, advanced analytics, and integrated data collaboration, demonstrate clearer advantages in transparency, planning stability, and disruption response. The next phase, it suggests, will be defined by closing the gap between strategic relevance and practical realisation.
