During the Doha negotiations, there has been an effort to identify the commercially
meaningful scope of logistics services. However, note that a service supplied in the
exercise of governmental authority, such as customs, is excluded from its coverage.
The logistics plurilateral negotiation group was established in the Doha Round in line
with the other 20 plurilateral negotiation groups. The World Trade Organization
(WTO) logistics plurilateral group classifies logistics services into four categories: first,
core freight logistics services; second, freight transport services; third, other-related
logistics services, and fourth, non-core freight logistics services. The coverage of the
service categories that fall under each classification is provided in Table III.
One angle of disagreement, concerning the scope of logistics, argues the irrelevance
of having a comprehensive definition of logistics services because some sub-sectors
(e.g. computer and related services) have only very indirect implications for logistics.
The other side may argue that the scope of the WTO services negotiations is too
narrow, omitting government provided services crucial to logistics, such as customs.
Challenge 3: lack of demand-side perspective
Understanding the demand-side perspective in logistics will aid policy makers in
addressing the needs of logistics services users – both exporters and importers.
Addressing the needs of logistics services users will enhance the interplay among key
players: the government, which provides the enabling environment for the logistics
sector; the logistics services suppliers and providers, which are involved in moving
goods across the globe; and the logistics services users, which require services by both
logistics services suppliers and providers and the government in order to finish an
export or import transaction. What appears to be important to users are the reputation
of the logistics enterprise; cargo loss and damage; price; speedy and timely delivery;
quality of customer service, including personalized and fast responses to customer
complaints; geographic coverage; level of information technology utilization; and
knowledge of the industry served[4].
In addition, understanding the needs of logistics services users with respect to their
transactions with the government amid fast-paced economic development is also
necessary to deepen trade facilitation. The needs for transport and logistics
are expected to change in future with the pace of economic development and the
shift from export-oriented to consumption-led growth (Asian Development Bank,
2012). In future, there will be: first, rapid expansion of reliable, economical short-haul
transport services conducive to the development of industrial clusters; second,
increasing use of multimodal transport that facilitates the linkage of upstream and
downstream partners in a supply chain; third, growth in demand for seamless
transport and logistics services that transcend administrative and modal barriers;
fourth, need for trade logistics services to facilitate rapid clearance of goods used in
or produced by advanced supply chains; fifth, need for more environmentally
friendly and energy-efficient forms of transport; and finally, strong demand for
convenient, reliable transport, and logistics services to support advanced,
high-technology manufacturing industries