Logistics in the post-COVID era: a preliminary survey

The logistics sector, involved in the handling and distribution of goods, was among the industrial fields most severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemics. At the beginning of the pandemics, the Covid-19 caused a strong increase in the volumes handled by logistics companies, especially those working with companies manufacturing or delivering essential goods (e.g., the food/beverage industry), which also experienced a significant increase in the volume of products handled and sold. In the medium term, despite a gradual restore of the pre-pandemic conditions in various sectors, the logistics sector still maintained higher volumes than those handled in the pre-Covid period. These situations forced logistics companies to reorganize their activities to face the increase in the volume of products handled in the immediate term but also in the medium term. After approx. four years from the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, time has come to explore the medium/long-term effect of Covid-19 on logistics companies, focusing on how these companies have reorganized their activities in the post-Covid era, and, in case, whether some aftershock aspects still affect the sector. This paper tries to explore this point, by means of an empirical investigation in the form of a questionnaire survey, which was administered to a sample of companies working in the logistics field and was answered by 31 respondents. Some aspects, expressively related to the business activities, and consequent to Covid-19, are investigated through the survey. Examples of these aspects include work organization, smart working, e-commerce sales, consumers’ behavior, and resilience strategies. Results provide an initial overview of the logistics activities in the post-Covid era and are expected to fuel discussion on this topic in the next years.