AI is revolutionizing logistics by automating tasks and enhancing decision-making, shifting focus to strategic judgment and customer satisfaction.
Artificial intelligence is set to eliminate repetitive tasks in freight forwarding and logistics, shifting value from manual system navigation to analytical questioning and strategic judgment, reports London's Air Cargo Week.
Archival Garcia, chief executive of Fluent Cargo, stated that the first workflows to disappear will be manual rate checks, tracking updates, and report compilation. Mid-sized forwarders will consolidate multiple system queries into single conversational requests, thereby reducing reliance on institutional knowledge of system navigation.
Mr. Garcia cited the Red Sea crisis as an example of AI's value, enabling operators to evaluate alternative routes and pose 'what if' questions in minutes rather than waiting days for reports. He emphasized that clean, integrated data is essential, noting that fragmented multimodal datasets remain a barrier to meaningful AI deployment.
Workforce roles are shifting from task execution to decision quality, risk mitigation, and customer impact. Performance metrics will evolve to focus on customer satisfaction and cost improvements rather than merely tracking updates or report speed. Curiosity and the ability to interrogate AI outputs are emerging as key differentiators.
Mr. Garcia asserted that transparency is non-negotiable, with logistics leaders needing to understand whether recommendations are based on real-time data, contract rates, or industry averages. AI also enables disruption management to transition from reactive to anticipatory, allowing operators to continuously model alternatives and proactively inform customers.
By 2026, AI will be baseline infrastructure for freight operations, with customers demanding real-time tracking, instant quotes, and proactive alerts. Mr. Garcia predicted that predictive capabilities will be the next frontier, with AI learning from outcomes to refine models and forecast capacity shortages weeks in advance.
