KPIs, measured in days or simple counts, are relatable to policy makers and practitioners concerned with the performance of key logistics hubs or gateways, such as ports or airports.

# Digitization and new opportunities: massive tracking data

Since the first release of the Logistics Performance Index in 2007, the data ecosystem of supply chains has changed radically. Tracking data is now abundant, and at least for some modes, from globally consistent sources. Much of this change is driven by digitization of supply chains where shipments and assets are located in real time. This knowledge allows the owner of the goods, or its agent, to make timely decisions on purchasing, inventory management, routing or rerouting. Digitization has transformed supply chain management techniques and improves operational efficiency and flexibility and reduces costs across supply chains.<sup>6</sup> Supply chain data interoperability across the supply chain participants is essential to supply chain digitization: Third-party logistics operators should exchange seamlessly with carriers (e.g., shipping lines). Industry initiatives to normalize supply chain data or create shared tracking repositories are critical to the fast adoption of digitization. For instance in the area of container shipping, the Digital Container Shipping Association<sup>7</sup> promotes common standards, while the now discontinued TradeLens was an attempt of a common digital platform.

Digitization of supply chain operations generates massive granular high-frequency datasets. The volume of information on cargo, vessel and vehicle movements in time and space offers new opportunities to analyze supply chains and logistics services provision at the national level and globally.

To construct the new set of indicators for the LPI 2023, the World Bank collaborated with external data providers in the logistics industry. The data comprised high-frequency, micro-level datasets, namely: (i) dwell time and connectivity of containerized trade based on consignment activities from TradeLens (ii) speed of international parcel movements from the Universal Postal Union (UPU); (iii) air cargo tracking from Cargo iQ (IATA); (iv) container lines shipping service deployment information from MDS Transmodal; and (v) turnaround time at port generated from worldwide containership port calls from Automatic Identification System (AIS) data provider Marine Traffic.

The data accessed is pure tracking data: a series of events for a given shipment with a time stamp and a localization (e.g., port or airport code). It does not include the price paid for freight and logistics services, nor the value or nature of the merchandise. The partners’ databases may aggregate waybill or manifest information where monetary information is available. As this information is commercially sensitive, it has been excluded from the partnerships with the World Bank.

The tracking data is exhaustive regarding long-distance international trade (the number of observations is in the double digit millions). It covers three major types of international trade: container trade, air cargo and parcels. Bulk shipping is not included. However, bulk logistics is much less representative of countries’ performance than container trade.

The available tracking data is less representative of cross-border trade between countries in the same tracking block than long-distance trade. Cross-border trade is carried by trucks (semi-trailers) or rail.

> 6 Supply chain digitalization has been reviewed many times, e.g., https://supplychaindigital.com/digital-supplychain/mckinsey-5-point-plan-on-supply-chain-digital-transformation.

> 7 https://dcsa.org/newsroom/streamlining-international-trade

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