About half of all imported and exported goods are transported by truck. In Switzerland, road transport plays a particularly important role in the local distribution of goods, whilst rail transport and shipping on the Rhine are used to transport freight to the major economic centres and to the European ports. The Rhine provides the main link to Rotterdam, Europe’s largest sea port. Commodities such as oil products, steel and grain, and all kinds of other goods are transported in containers along this waterway to Basel.
International logistics chains are sensitive to disruptions in transport routes and logistics facilities, and to failures in means of transport. Because there is such a close interaction between the different transport modes, when there are disruptions whole logistics chains need to be protected, not just individual means of transport. The Federal Office for National Economic Supply has therefore set up a system to protect the logistics chain as best as possible in a crisis situation.
