Paris Innovation Review – How would you define the Physical Internet?

Eric Ballot – In simple words, the Physical Internet is applying the principles of the Internet to logistics. A global, open, interconnected network, using a set of collaborative protocols and standardized smart interfaces, in order to send and receive physical goods contained in standard modules – instead of packets of information, as does the Internet.

The container revolution, which disrupted international trade in the last few decades, offered us a first glimpse, with the emergence of a global standard shared by all players and that allowed high consolidation: container lines are now shared by many customers. But the maritime is only one segment of supply chains. Inter-modality remains very limited: in Europe, for example, the efficiency of maritime containers is significantly lower than that of semitrailers. Lastly, the dimensions of a virtually universal tool such as the pallet are not adapted to containers. In short, this is a first step, but there is still a long way to go.