Clear and unambiguous information is indispensable in international value chains. It clarifies employees' tasks, supports processes in all sub-areas and facilitates their planning. With digitalisation, communication with the drivers in the trucks has also improved and the vehicles are integrated into the information flow. The logistics industry is increasingly relying on apps that guide drivers through the traffic as smoothly as possible and at the same time transmit the current GPS position and the distance to the destination to the dispatcher. With these solutions, freight forwarders and logistics service providers work to carry out transports quickly and successfully.

International

Transports within the EU and exports

Many international transports hardly differ from domestic transports in the countries of Europe. It is not only the traffic rules on the roads of the EU that are largely the same. The transports also run within the same customs territory. Apart from the Europe-wide rules for fair competition in the transport market, which allow a maximum of three consecutive cabotage journeys, the journeys run according to the traffic regulations that apply within the respective country. These are almost the same throughout the EU. When crossing national borders, no export declaration of the goods is required. The customs union and extensive freedom to provide services apply. Since the beginning of 2021, however, the United Kingdom has left the EU with Brexit. Since then, the UK's 67 million inhabitants are no longer EU citizens and the conditions of the European Single Market no longer apply in part to goods traffic with the British. Although customs duties are still not levied between continental European countries and the British Isles, the transport of goods to the other side of the English Channel now constitutes an export of goods for which customs documents are required under the export procedure.

Challenges

Logistics apps provide structure and translate

Hauliers are required to adhere precisely to fixed procedural rules for imports and exports during transports. For this, the truck drivers in particular must know exactly what they have to do. To this end, they must receive work instructions tailored precisely to the process in the form of workflows in their language that guide them through the individual steps of the customs procedure. They should also ensure – for example via checklists – that the import or export documents are complete. In addition, drivers benefit from a chat function with integrated automatic translation, which helps them to cope with foreign languages and understand the meaning of foreign words. This works not only for communication abroad, but also within a country between colleagues of different nationalities.

Benefit

Controlling the value chain through logistics apps

Logistics service providers and freight forwarders who play logistics apps on their truck drivers' smartphones support process quality and ensure that errors or misunderstandings are rare. They structure the registration of the import or export of goods. In addition, carriers optimise transports with the app functions. For example, they can calculate the estimated times of arrival (ETA) and coordinate transport stages accordingly – including border crossings. The digitalisation of processes ensures the transfer of information at all times, improves planning and acertains the success of services. The integration of translation software into the mobile apps also makes it easier to always understand the meaning of individual terms and tasks.

Conclusion

Logistics apps can manage services in all countries and languages

In the transnational movement of goods, service providers gain security and efficiency for their processes with mobile software solutions for smartphones and other end devices. They optimise value chains, manage customs procedures, organise networks and achieve their goals. In this way, they realise the greatest possible benefit for their tasks through digitalisation.