Why the language barrier is still costing money in logistics

The internationalization of transport has brought more customers, routes, and opportunities… and also more friction in day-to-day communication. In an environment where loads must be confirmed, issues resolved, and arrivals coordinated, a single misunderstanding can mean delays, surcharges, or even the loss of a customer. The labor market backs this up: when a job posting in purchasing, warehousing, and logistics requires languages, the average salary rises by more than €9,000 (from €23,527 to €32,627; +39%) according to the InfoJobs 2025 Salary Progression Report.

In short: paying for multilingual “super profiles” has become the norm—and a fixed cost in many teams. The article in Logística C de Comunicación sums it up in one idea: in logistics and transport, language requirements are the strongest catalyst for wage increases.

The ORUS approach: clear communication, continuous tracking, and instant translation

ORUS Logistics was created to remove operational noise. It’s an essential add-on for day-to-day communication between traffic operators, exporters, and customers: alerts, status updates, document requests, and incident resolution in a single channel. Its major accelerator in international contexts is built-in instant translation:

The traffic operator writes in Spanish (or in their own language),
The customer and the exporter receive the message in their language,
The thread context is preserved—shipment number and associated documents included,
And the chat is also translated instantly, without leaving the workflow.

Result: clear, unambiguous communication, fewer calls, and continuous tracking that doesn’t depend on each person’s language.

Less reliance on “premium” profiles, faster time-to-fill

If the “languages” variable pushes logistics salaries up by +€9,100 on average, as quantified by the InfoJobs report, ORUS helps “democratize” traffic roles: you no longer need the entire front line to speak multiple languages perfectly to communicate effectively with international customers. You can hire talent for operational capability (judgment, order, managing time windows and providers) and support them with automatic translation for the multilingual part. As a result:

Reduce time-to-fill for peak-season vacancies.
Contain structural salary costs without sacrificing service quality.
Minimize turnover associated with highly demanded—and therefore volatile—profiles.

The numbers don’t lie: logistics is the sector where “knowing languages” pays off the most in offered salary; which is why it pays even more to have a platform that removes that friction from day-to-day work.

How it works day to day (no endless manuals)

Adopting ORUS is deliberately simple:

One thread per shipment/order. Everything that matters lives there: messages, statuses, documents, photos.
Automatic translation that preserves the thread context (consignment, route, loading window, PO, etc.).
Message templates ready for critical moments: arrival notice, temperature incidents, missing paperwork, dock change… (the recipient sees it in their language).
Chat with suppliers and customers without leaving ORUS; the team doesn’t jump to WhatsApp or parallel emails, and nothing goes off-thread.
Status visibility (continuous tracking, not “magical real time”): every update is recorded and it’s clear who said what and when.

Impact on service quality and P&L

Fewer calls: with the entire conversation in a single thread—and in each party’s language—there are fewer phone clarifications.
Fewer errors: cutting down on ad-hoc translations reduces incidents and associated costs.
Higher NPS and repeat business: getting understandable information the first time improves the sense of control.
Lower cost per shipment: as case-handling time drops, margins improve.

Ride the market trend (and get ahead)

InfoJobs data point to a scarcity of multilingual profiles and a clear wage premium when languages come into play—especially in logistics. ORUS aligns with that reality: it reduces reliance on language to communicate well and lets you scale operations with teams focused more on operational resolution than on “acting as translators.”

Goodbye to the language barrier with Orus

With ORUS, the language barrier stops being a bottleneck: the right person can serve any customer, in any country, with clear messages and unified context. Easy to adopt, usable from minute one, and with instant chat translation, ORUS is the logistics communication platform that frees the team to do what truly matters: moving loads on time, without friction.