Business logistics costs were $1,305 billion, rising 11 percent in 2006. Higher transportation costs and higher inventory carrying costs combined with moderating growth in the overall economy pushing us to just to the edge of double digit logistics as a percent of GDP. The sluggish economy, the changing face of global supply chains, and evolutions in warehousing and inventory management, and rising customer demands are contributing to pressure buildup in the logistics industry. It is difficult to think of a time in recent history when there was this much uncertainty in the near-term outlook for the transportation industry. Rosalyn Wilson, author of the 18th Annual State of Logistics Report©, talked about how the industry performed in 2006, what has happened in the first six months of 2007 and what she thinks the future holds for the remainder of the year into 2008.

About Rosalyn A. Wilson

Rosalyn Wilson is an independent consultant with over 30 years of experience in the transportation field. She has extensive experience in research and writing; data collection and analysis; modeling and benchmarking; and management tasks such as policy formulation, business process redesign, infrastructure systems analysis, market analysis, and institutional strengthening. Much of her experience has been in the transportation and logistics industry. Her practice focuses on the analysis of the performance of various sectors of the industry and identifying and analyzing key issues facing the transportation industry. She is the co-author of Securing Global Transportation Networks. Rosalyn has worked on the State of Logistics Report©, originally authored by the late Bob Delaney, since 1994. In the early years of the report she contributed data and analysis to assist Bob in the preparation of the report, and in 1999 she joined Bob as co-author of the report. In 2004, she assumed full responsibility for the report.

Rosalyn recently returned to full time transportation consulting. Prior to that she spent
six years with Reality Based IT Services, Ltd. (RBIS, Ltd.), an information technology security firm and subsidiary of SYS Technologies, that operates primarily in the defense and intelligence market spaces. She has also been a senior consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton’s transportation group. After forming her consulting practice she continued her association with the group, in a sub-consultant role, supporting their efforts in transport, trade, and technology both domestically and internationally. She was a director at the Eno Transportation Foundation, managing several of the Foundation’s major programs and publications. While at the Foundation she helped establish and direct the activities of the Eno Center for Transportation Leadership Development and served as the Administrative Director for the Council of University Transportation Centers.

Rosalyn has extensive railroad industry experience, having served in various capacities
for over 11 years at the Association of American Railroads (AAR). She designed and maintained cost indexes reflecting changes in costs associated with railroad freight service as mandated by Congress when the industry was deregulated. Ms. Wilson developed the index methodology, collected data, calculated indexes, verified and audited railroad input data, and analyzed index fluctuations! She assisted railroads in the design or modification of data collection systems to comply with AAR instructions and to meet Interstate Commerce Commission regulations. Prior to the AAR she was a transportation analyst at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Rosalyn has written for and served as editor for many publications. She was the author of Transportation in America, a compendium of transportation information published annually by the Eno Transportation Foundation from 1993 through its most recent edition released in 2003. She also authored the Foundation’s National Transportation Organizations and served as co-editor of the Transportation Quarterly. While at the AAR she compiled many of the association’s data publications including the Analysis of Class I Railroads, the Railroad Fact Book, and the Railroad Ten-Year Trends