AI throwing wrench into arbitrage machine for forwarding labor

Freight forwarders do not own cargo, and they are largely reliant on the assets of ocean, air and road capacity providers. That liminal state puts them at the center of the debate over whether AI will transform logistics. Beyond the rhetoric of whether AI can functionally replace the hundreds of thousands of people employed in operational, sales, development and administrative roles at forwarders, there is a more basic metric worth tracking: How will AI — or, more specifically, automation enabled by AI — affect forwarders’ cost structures?

“For a digitally mature forwarder with decent data and workflow discipline, AI should be able to cut routine file-handling costs by roughly 15% to 35% over the next two to three years,” said Amit Maheshwari, CEO of Softlink Global, a provider of freight management solutions for forwarders. “On a poor-quality, exception-heavy import file, the savings will be lower. On a clean, repeatable lane with structured inputs, the savings can be higher.”