Ensuring the integrity of transportation and logistics during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The unexpected, rapid spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus around the globe has almost completely paralyzed multiple industries in most nations. At the same time, even during lockdowns, many countries did practically no attempt to restrict road traffic, fearing that this would freeze the shipping of vital goods, primarily food. As a result, shipping by road transport has only been impacted by the drop in consumer demand. Nonetheless, shipping companies’ operations have undergone drastic changes due to the quarantine. Sending some of the personnel to work from home has been one of these changes. On the one hand, this has exacerbated certain risks. On the other hand, when personnel works from home, this helps reduce spending and may even be considered as a way of enforcing the lean transportation principle. The insights gained from remote controllers’ efforts to keep road shipping safe and reliable during the COVID-19 pandemic may find successful uses as a step towards greater shipping efficiency, not only in emergencies, but under other circumstances as well. In this paper, we consider the capabilities of a virtual machine-based architecture for a road shipping control system. We also elaborate on the practical results of deploying such an architecture. Our study proves that our concept of a geographically dispersed shipping company that uses a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Process Mining has the means to ensure productive remote controller operation, including operation through low-bandwidth Internet channels, and guarantees the integrity and confidentiality of the relevant business information.