Trade and logistics today is touching so many countries and it goes without saying that it also plays a very significant role in shaping the economy as well. As the industry and its operations cross boundaries it becomes increasingly difficult to monitor and get a complete picture of a countries performance. Hence it became necessary to have a credible and process involved method to evaluate and quantify the performance of the logistics industry of every country.
Logistics Performance Index or LPI was created in order to evaluate countries across a number of industry-specific indicators and factors as competence, skills, infrastructure, international shipment pricing, and the time factor of delivery of each shipment. It reflects perceptions of a country’s logistics based on efficiency based on the services provided as customs clearance process, ease of arranging competitively priced shipments, ability to track and trace the cargo consignments and also most importantly the frequency with which the shipments reach the end consignee. This has certainly proven to be the most credible way which helps the economic and political systems of every country to benchmark their progress in the field of logistics in comparison with other countries. The total Logistics performance index consists of an Overall score of ‘5’ which is regarded as the highest possible score and is considered the best and the lowest being ‘1’ being the worst.
It can be significantly understood that the logistics industry comprises of mainly two areas of operations Domestic or International transportation. Hence LPI can also offer Domestic as well as International evaluations.
DOMESTIC LPI: A Domestic LPI gives a view of the countries services offered by logistics professionals inside the country and about the internal infrastructure, the quality of the service offered as well as all other add-on services that will ensure the reliability of the supply chain operations.
INTERNATIONAL LPI : An International LPI, on the other hand, offers information as perceived by the logistics professionals who are working outside the country and about the quality of trade and transport infrastructure, the ease of arranging priced shipments and various other factors which contribute to the ranking all based on the operations in foreign countries and cross borders.
Let us dive into the current statistics and figures that give us a picture of the emerging leaders and top performing countries based on the 2018 Logistics performance index scores of countries. It precisely shows us which of the countries efficiently move their goods across and within borders.
It is been learned that the consolidated LPI scores of high-income countries are 48% higher on an average than the low-income countries and among the major lower middle-income group countries large economies like India and Indonesia, as well as emerging economies such as Vietnam, stand out as top performers.
TOP LOGISTICS PERFORMERS IN 2018 BASED ON LPI SCORES
| Country | Year | LPI Rank | LPI Score | Customs | Infrastructure | International shipments | Logistics competence | Tracking & tracing | Timeliness |
| Germany | 2018 | 1 | 4.2 | 4.09 | 4.37 | 3.86 | 4.31 | 4.24 | 4.39 |
| Sweden | 2018 | 2 | 4.05 | 4.05 | 4.24 | 3.92 | 3.98 | 3.88 | 4.28 |
| Belgium | 2018 | 3 | 4.04 | 3.66 | 3.98 | 3.99 | 4.13 | 4.05 | 4.41 |
| Austria | 2018 | 4 | 4.03 | 3.71 | 4.18 | 3.88 | 4.08 | 4.09 | 4.25 |
| Japan | 2018 | 5 | 4.03 | 3.99 | 4.25 | 3.59 | 4.09 | 4.05 | 4.25 |
| Netherlands | 2018 | 6 | 4.02 | 3.92 | 4.21 | 3.68 | 4.09 | 4.02 | 4.25 |
| Singapore | 2018 | 7 | 4 | 3.89 | 4.06 | 3.58 | 4.1 | 4.08 | 4.32 |
| Denmark | 2018 | 8 | 3.99 | 3.92 | 3.96 | 3.53 | 4.01 | 4.18 | 4.41 |
| United Kingdom | 2018 | 9 | 3.99 | 3.77 | 4.03 | 3.67 | 4.05 | 4.11 | 4.33 |
| Finland | 2018 | 10 | 3.97 | 3.82 | 4 | 3.56 | 3.89 | 4.32 | 4.28 |
According to the 2018 LPI scores list, Germany seems to be topping the charts with an LPI score of 4.20 followed by Sweden with 4.05 and Belgium, Austria and Japan with 4.04, 4.03 and 4.03 LPI scores. Interestingly and to be much appreciated India stands at 44th position with an LPI score of 3.18 which is followed by Indonesia with 3.15 and Cote D’Ivoire at 50th position with 3.08 LPI score.
