In his new book, 32-year industry veteran Issa Baluch examines transport logistics innovations in great projects of the past, analyzes the challenges of today’s dynamic industry, and shares his vision for its possibilities in the future.

Transport Logistics first presents ten case studies of historical projects that demanded careful transport logistics management. It surveys a wide variety of projects, some of them successes and some of them failures.

For example:

Building the Great Pyramid in Egypt required careful project management and innovative transport methods to bring 2.3 million blocks to the building site.
The transport logistics practiced in the Berlin Airlift helped defuse a diplomatic stand-off which could have resulted in a third world war.
Military operations during the Second Punic War, the Battle of Stalingrad, and the Falklands (Malvinas) War required the mobilization and transport of resources (human and otherwise) on a massive scale.
Humanitarian emergencies, such as the one experienced in the wake of the South Asian tsunami, demand close cooperation among aid agencies to procure, transport, and distribute food, water, and shelter in volatile and challenging situations.

Whether these projects were related to construction, engineering, military actions, or humanitarian relief, they all required transport logistics and placed great demands on logistics managers.

The second part of the book examines various aspects of today’s dynamic freight logistics industry, including the changing role of the freight forwarder. With the development of IT-based supply chain integration and value-added service offerings, the freight forwarder is being forced to evolve, or else risk extinction. In addition, ensuring cargo security has become an irreversible part of the forwarder’s responsibility to customers and other supply chain partners. Finally, an examination of the freight logistics industries of Egypt, China, South Africa, India, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates provides some perspective on the varied environments in which forwarders operate and illuminates the need for trade and transport facilitation as a means to economic growth.

In the book’s third and final section, Mr. Baluch looks at the future of the transport logistics industry, which will continue to evolve as a result of globalization, the digitalization of information, new technologies, rising energy costs, and changing trade patterns. He also presents railways as the eco-friendly freight solution of the future, especially in the Middle East and Africa. Transport Logistics concludes with an emphasis on the importance of training and the role of national and international associations in developing a culture of quality, security, and innovation in the freight logistics profession.