The importance of road transport has been highlighted at the opening of the 30th International Road Transport Union (IRU) World Congress in Dubai. IRU President Paul Laeremans told an assembled audience of 1,500 delegates 70 countries from all five continents of the importance of road transport’s "high quality door-to-door services, as a modern day production tool and an integral part of complex logistic systems.

To get what you need from motor carriers, you need to understand what they need. "Transportation is not a commodity --it's a service," stresses Steve Huntley, director of logistics operations at Tyco Healthcare/ Mallinckrodt.

The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has expressed serious doubts over the European Commission’s proposal to enhance supply chain security. The IRU says the road transport industry is fully aware of its responsibilities to enhance security in the supply chain in an era where the risk of terrorist attacks is an unfortunate reality.

Logistics includes all the processes required to go from raw materials to end customer delivery, including purchasing, inventory management, warehousing, shipping and even customer returns. All product-oriented businesses have logistics as a cost of doing business.