Background: The components of national freight logistics costs are still optimised in isolation, instead of systemic optimisation between logistics and other supply chain elements. The risk is the tragedy of the commons effect, where a positive return for economic activities in isolation could lead to a negative collective result in the long-term. Therefore, there is a need to elevate the systemic view of logistics to the macroeconomic realm. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to further the macrologistics discipline through its formal definition and to develop an instrumentation construct to support macroeconomic trade-off analysis. The secondary objective was to apply instrumentation outputs to national-level logistics challenges. Method: A review of macrologistics was conducted, followed by a discussion on macrologistics instrumentation, which is twofold: a freight-flow model and a related logistics costs model. A disaggregated national input–output table was developed, followed by gravity modelling, to determine freight flows. Logistics cost calculations relate these flows to the costs of fulfilling associated logistics functions. Results: This review contributes to the developing theory of macrologistics, while the instrumentation outputs improve the systemic understanding of the national freight-flow landscape, enabling informed debate and prioritisation analysis. This systemic view enabled macrologistics proposals to address South Africa’s logistics challenges, including proposals regarding a domestic intermodal strategy externality cost internalisation; international trade facilitation; infrastructure investments; and rail branch line revitalisation. Conclusion: The elevation of logistics to the macroeconomic realm will enable the management of logistics as a national production factor, thereby contributing to reducing national freight logistics costs and improving national competitiveness.

中文翻译：

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物流与未来：宏观物流的兴起

背景：国家货运物流成本的组成部分仍是孤立地优化，而不是物流与其他供应链要素之间的系统优化。风险是公地效应的悲剧，长期而言，孤立地进行经济活动获得正收益可能会导致负的集体结果。因此，有必要将物流的系统观点提升到宏观经济领域。目标：这项研究的主要目的是通过其正式定义进一步发展宏观物流学科，并开发一种工具结构来支持宏观经济权衡分析。次要目标是将仪器仪表输出应用于国家级后勤挑战。方法：对宏观物流进行了回顾，接下来是关于宏观物流工具的讨论，它有两个方面：货运流模型和相关的物流成本模型。制定了一个分类的国家投入产出表，然后进行重力建模，以确定货运量。物流成本计算将这些流程与实现相关物流功能的成本相关联。结果：这次审查有助于发展宏观物流理论，而仪器仪表的输出则可以提高对全国货运量形势的系统理解，从而可以进行有根据的辩论和优先级分析。这种系统的观点使宏观物流提案能够应对南非的物流挑战，包括有关国内多式联运战略外部性成本内部化的提案；国际贸易便利化；基础设施投资；和铁路支线振兴。结论：物流向宏观经济领域的提升将使物流管理成为国民生产要素，从而有助于降低国家货运物流成本和提高国家竞争力。