The patronal organization, One Logistics, recently held an event in Madrid titled “Logistics and Transport: Balance 2024 and Forecasts 2025.” During this gathering, the organization’s president, Francisco Aranda, shared his perspectives on the sector’s outlook for 2025. According to Aranda, ecommerce is expected to grow by 5.4% this year, which will necessitate significant investments in digitalization, route optimization, and the grouping of deliveries. Additionally, the organization aims to reduce kilometers traveled and improve reverse logistics, all while promoting sustainable mobility.
Aranda emphasized that these solutions will not only enhance operational efficiency but also contribute to intelligent and sustainable mobility, helping to decongest cities and ensure maximum control over product traceability. He also mentioned that the forecast for logistics and transport contracts is expected to grow by 2.8% during the year, making the sector one of the most significant employers and drivers of the economy. However, he cautioned that the sector must be mindful of endogenous risks, such as political and regulatory uncertainty, and the potential for new cost overruns that could negatively impact job creation.
In terms of the main challenges for the coming months, Aranda highlighted the need to attract young talent and promote professionals to ensure generational relief within the sector. He also stressed the importance of investing in infrastructure to consolidate intermodality, particularly the railway mode, and to advance in the modernization of the paradoxical system. Furthermore, Aranda called for the urgent approval of the Sustainable Mobility Law, which would provide legal certainty and act as a strategic guide for identifying concrete objectives in this area.
The president of One Logistics also emphasized the need for the definitive authorization of 44 tons, which would promote the productivity of goods transport by road, allow for competition with European neighbors on equal terms, and reduce environmental impact. He also highlighted the importance of rational decarbonization, which should not endanger the life of companies, through stable economic resources and reasonable deadlines. Aranda concluded by stressing the need to reduce non-salary costs to improve real wages and support private investment and business creation.
Logistics Balance 2024
During the meeting, Aranda took stock of the previous year, detailing that the sector managed around 1,303 million shipments in 2024, an 8.6% increase from the previous year. He noted that 2024 saw the greatest demand for ecommerce in history, which tested the capacity for innovation, adaptation, and management of logistics companies. With the help of technology, these companies were able to monitor and better understand their hyperconnected clients, optimize operations, anticipate demand, and respond agilely to volatility.
Aranda also confirmed the good results for merchandise transport by road, which managed a total of 417,931,350 tons of goods in the third quarter of 2024, a 7.82% increase from the same period in the previous year. He emphasized that transporters are an essential link within the supply chain, as more than 95% of merchandise moves in Spain by road. Therefore, it is crucial to continue promoting competitive improvements and aid packages that promote the attractiveness of the profession and facilitate access to it.
In terms of employment, Aranda confirmed that logistics and transport closed 2024 with 1,164,149 workers, translating to a 4.6% increase in hiring compared to the previous year. This ascending data demonstrates the strength and undeniable tractor effect of logistics and transport in generating jobs, providing wealth, and competitiveness to the country. Aranda concluded by defining the new era as a “permacrisis,” a hypercomplex reality of permanent crisis where strategy is a fundamental ingredient in logistics decisions, taking into account not only transit time and cost but also sustainability, the regulatory framework, macroeconomic or geopolitical factors, among others.
