Germany tops World Bank’s LPI ranking for a third consecutive time in 2018

July 25, 2018: Germany has retained its top position in the recently released rankings of the 2018 Logistics Performance Index (LPI) by World Bank.

It comes as no surprise to us as Germany, as known to all of us, ranks fair enough in all the six criteria’s of LPI rankings. The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) published biennially analyses countries based on six indicators: efficiency of customs and border management clearance, quality of trade- and transport-related infrastructure, of arranging shipments, quality of logistics services, timeliness, and tracking and tracing.

Germany topped the ranking for the third time in a row, with a score of 4.20. While Sweden moved up from third position to second position in the ranking. Belgium performed well as it climbed three positions, moving from rank 6 to rank 3 in the LPI 2018 report.

While Austria moved from seventh place to fourth place, and Japan stood at 5th place in LPI 2018, compared to 12th place in the LPI 2016 report.

The UK, which faces an exit from the European Union in March of next year, fell one place to ninth in 2018, with a score of 3.99. The US was in 14th place, while Hong Kong and China combined were in twelfth place.

The overall group composition among the top-performing upper-middle-income economies has changed marginally, with China, Thailand, and South Africa leading the group, and Croatia and Bulgaria improving in their LPI ranking.

“Over the past several years, high-income countries, most of which are in Europe, occupied the top 10 positions in the LPI rankings (refer the opening image). Not surprising, since these countries traditionally have been dominant in the supply chain industry,” stated World Bank in its report.

“The composition of the 15 best-performing countries has not significantly changed either. But it is worth highlighting major improvements in the LPI scores of Japan, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand since 2012,” added the organisation.

Among lower-middle-income countries, large economies such as India and Indonesia and emerging economies such as Vietnam stand out as top performers.

The bottom 10 countries in the ranking are mostly low-income and lower-middle-income countries in Africa or isolated areas (refer the table below). These are either fragile economies affected by armed conflict, natural disasters, and political unrest or landlocked countries naturally challenged by geography or economies of scale in connecting to global supply chains, mentioned World Bank in the report.