Global logistics connects critical components of the supply chain from a product’s point of origin to its point of consumption—to ensure timely and efficient distribution of goods from producers to consumers. In 2016, the global volume of merchandise trade was $16 trillion, according to the World Trade Organization. The global logistics industry facilitates this worldwide flow of goods.

Global logistics is the process—largely a science but also an art—of managing the flow of goods through the supply chain, from the place where they are made to the place where they are consumed. It might involve shipping seeds and fertilizer to a grain farmer, sending harvested grain to a processing mill, trucking flour to an industrial bakery, sending containers full of loaves of bread to a distribution center, and then delivering them to restaurants. Global logistics involves the movement of goods—by truck, train, ship, or plane—as well as preparation, packaging and storage of goods in distribution centers and other logistics real estate facilities.