The logistics marketplace has been booming since the beginning of 2021. Global events like national and international lockdowns, together with Brexit have had an enormous effect on Ireland and the population as a whole. Being able to adapt to the changing sociopolitical climate so quickly was only possible thanks to the concerted effort of logistics, freight, and courier companies all across the country!
Quick recap on logistics
Logistics as a sector encompasses the management of goods and resources – from storage and distribution to final mile delivery to the end destination. With regards to the Irish economy, we saw the logistics market transforming not only the societal order and how people use courier firms for their everyday needs but also the local landscape with new developments of better transportation hubs and utilization of more warehouse space.
What happened in the logistics sector in 2021?
COVID-19
We can all acknowledge the massive impact the global pandemic has had on every household in the world. The effect from local lockdown restrictions prompted the growth of the logistics market, hand in hand with the large expansion of online retail, holding businesses, and the world’s economy together until the resolution was near! This past year almost all businesses in Ireland had to adapt to the current climate, and e-commerce became a major channel for non-essential shops around the country. The effect of online shopping this year was dramatic, giving the logistics sector a bigger boost than what we’ve seen in the last 5 years!
Brexit
The logistics marketplace was directly influenced by Brexit in all business dimensions. Our industry is very sensitive to global trends and the current political climate in and outside Europe. According to reports on the logistics performance of Dublin port in 2020, we saw a quieter second quarter and a busier third quarter once the political deal was confirmed and businesses could plan their next moves strategically. With the run-up to Christmas, stockpiling at the ports was attributed directly to the impact of Brexit on Irish exporters and importers of trading goods. This trend has receded since the beginning of the year and there are a lot of new policies which affect business partnerships in logistics to this day.
What should we expect to see for the rest of this year in logistics within Ireland?
The two major factors into play for the rest of this year remain to be COVID-19 and the aftermath of Brexit, not surprisingly. We can even say that these have merged in a way that is creating new trends, which we will see in development over the course of this year.
We expect the popularity of online shopping to continue growing in the general public. People of all age groups had to adapt to the new shopping experience and many of them have already become accustomed to it. Irish online retailers are continuing to evolve their e-commerce channels, becoming more competitive and giving shoppers better convenience with using their services. More online retail is proportional to the expansion of IT services and the local infrastructure of tech companies, needing more data center space to host the deployments of online businesses.
Another trend which we expect to see the effect of – on Irish logistics – is mass vaccination and courier services meeting the high demand for cold storage transportation. We are expecting the mass roll-out of vaccines to extend over the rest of 2021, which opens more business for courier services providers and medical courier solutions.
We are certainly experiencing growth in the warehouse space taken up by companies all across Ireland. Fulfillment centers are restructuring based on the market needs and this means that storage space will be of the highest priority for the supply chain of a great number of Irish retailers and logistics providers.
Global political and economic trends have changed the logistics marketplace in Ireland in the last year beyond recognition. The industry is booming due to the continually rising demand and we hope that the rest year being equally successful, opening more job opportunities in the sector by endorsing local and global economy in the uncertainty of the present times.
