Last week, we hosted the 15th annual BGSA Supply Chain conference. Despite the shift to a virtual format, we had a vibrant discussion with more than 30 CEOs and industry leaders, including Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel, US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and the heads of Echo, GlobalTranz, Agility Logistics and many others. For those that couldn’t join us in person, I thought it would be useful to share what we learned.

A few highlights:

• COVID crushed the airline industry in particular, causing a 66% decline in passenger volume, and $118 billion in losses
• That said, the BGSA supply chain index shot up 26%
• And some categories, e.g. LTL, spiked 55%
• A key driver of value creation was ecommerce, which helped parcel companies like UPS, FedEx and DHL gain $110 billion of value
• Thanks to COVID, 10 years of future ecommerce growth was compressed into one quarter. This fueled expansion for ecommerce fulfillment, last mile, reverse logistics, and other services.
• Freight tech attracted $4 billion in capital
• Going forward, we expect continued growth for tech-enabled supply chain services companies

Above all, we expect ecommerce growth to drive major new opportunities in the downstream supply chain.

See the full presentation and video.

I hope you find these insights helpful!

–Benjamin Gordon, Cambridge Capital