Transport and Logistics Fair in Munich June 2-5 (further updates) – Dachser
From 2–5 June 2025, ELA visited the transport logistic, the world’s leading trade fair for logistics, mobility, IT and supply chain management.
On behalf of LogisticNEWS, our vice-president, Mr. Mirek Rumler, had the change to talk to Mr. Eling, CEO of Dachser.
Burkhard Eling: Uncertainty as a source of opportunity
Personal participation in the Transport Logistic trade fair in Munich does not come cheap. It costs a lot of time, energy, and money. However, it is the best that the European logistics scene has to offer in terms of technologies, innovation, and society.
It is worth being there and experiencing Transport Logistics to the fullest with others. The trade fair will richly reward you for your efforts. How? For example, by allowing you to meet exceptional people whom you would not encounter elsewhere. And even if you did, you would have to travel long hours to meet them, whereas in Munich they are just a few steps away from each other. Who exactly do I have in mind? Well, for example, Burkhard Eling, CEO and spokesperson for the executive board of DACHSER, which is one of the leading global providers of logistics services today. And when we met him in Munich, we asked him for an interview. Mr. Eling gladly agreed to talk to us.
Although no thematic boundaries were set for the interview, we tried to avoid overly frequent questions about the continuing trend of strengthening European road transport to the detriment of rail transport, the volume of emissions from road transport, and the ability of companies to produce their own energy from renewable sources, despite the fact that DACHSER is one of the market leaders in energy management. We focused on several topics, including the company’s experience with rapid growth in Europe and globally, the use of digital twin technology in warehouse logistics, and the personnel policy of a company operating on several continents around the world.
“Investments in innovation and technology, which are an essential part of our further development, have not slowed us down in our growth strategy of increasing our market share in Europe, especially in the area of Food Logistics. Thanks to organic growth and strategic acquisitions, we now have a very good position in this area in Europe. But if you look at global markets, honestly, the growth potential in the future will be outside Europe, primarily in Asia, but also in South and North America. We are active in these markets, but our presence does not yet match the potential they offer. This is what we will focus on in the coming years – we want to develop our air and sea transport division outside Europe, both organically and through acquisitions,” says Burkhard Eling, continuing: “For many reasons, we have decided to use a combination of organic and inorganic growth. Strengthening our own companies allows us to build on the skills, professionalism, and creativity of our core employees, while acquisitions move us forward by giving us the opportunity to confront our own culture and strategy with others.”
Burkhard Eling considers the practical use of digital twin technology in a real-life transshipment warehouse to be a qualitative leap forward and a huge competitive advantage. A digital twin is a virtual representation of a real-life process or entire system. These virtual models are used to digitally represent processes, identify inefficiencies, and propose solutions to improve their real-life counterparts.
“Logistic twin is a true quantum leap not only in logistics, but in the entire supply chain,” says Eling. According to him, DACHSER is implementing digital twin technology in its transshipment warehouses at a pace that will allow for its actual launch in up to 12 of them per year. This means that within five years at the latest, up to 75 “blue&yellow” logistics operations around the world could be using it. “We see the implementation of this technology as a huge opportunity to achieve significant growth in the efficiency of transshipment operations, utilization of transport equipment, and optimal use of warehouse space and technology. From our point of view, it is also a very significant contribution to our sustainability policy, as it is a way of saving overall costs that goes hand in hand with minimizing the environmental impact per unit of goods in our system.”
In the environment of a rapidly developing company providing its services in many countries with different mentalities, cultures, and languages, it is essential to set a uniform standard of communication within the entire system. It is not only important to understand and comprehend, to always have complete and, above all, up-to-date information, but also to share common values and goals. “The cornerstone of our internal communication is, of course, the corporate system and culture that we share. Even though we are a progressive company investing in modern technologies, we still strongly believe in personal contact between people and building interpersonal relationships. In my work, this means that I never miss an opportunity to meet with colleagues in countries where DACHSER offers its services. This gives not only me, but also my colleagues the opportunity to discuss our tasks, share our experiences and needs, and exchange ideas on how to best meet the expectations of our mutual customers,” says Burkhard Eling about his management experience.
In connection with communication and building interpersonal relationships at DACHSER, it is also worth mentioning Mr. Eling’s perspective on the issue of attracting young people in particular to work in professional logistics. He disagrees with the view that today’s young people are not sufficiently motivated to do hard and systematic work. On the contrary, he is convinced that it is the responsibility of companies to find ways to effectively convince young people to work in the conditions offered by the world of logistics. “At DACHSER, we focus on working with young people even before they actually become employees of our company or any other. We actively cooperate with secondary schools and universities, where we offer both the involvement of our managers directly in teaching and, in particular, the creation of programs combining theoretical teaching at school with the practical involvement of students in the form of dual studies, various internships, practical teaching, and a whole range of special formats that allow students to work with us while studying. Our experience clearly shows that it is young people with previous experience in these programs who today make up the largest group of our young managers around the world. This motivates us to further develop our work with young people who are just starting their professional careers and to invest even more time, energy, and financial resources in it, because it is undoubtedly an investment in our common future,” believes Burkhard Eling.
In connection with issues related to people and their ever-deepening integration with modern technologies, the question arises as to how effective it is to deal with them at a time of ubiquitous economic, political, and military risks, the extent of which no one can estimate today. Mr. Eling has a relatively pragmatic, yet unexpectedly optimistic answer to this question: “I see the uncertainties that these key global threats currently expose us to as an opportunity to start doing things differently, to learn as we go, and to consistently read the terrain ahead. More than ever before, it is necessary to minimize mistakes, avoid wasting resources, and do things right the first time. And the tool we can use to achieve this is skilled and highly motivated people who are able to take advantage of all the benefits of modern technology.”
Source: LogisticNEWS
