Look beyond AI productivity gains, forwarders told
Freight forwarders should focus on using artificial intelligence to capture lost gross profit and deliver more tailored customer service, rather than treating the technology primarily as a productivity tool, according to Erik Muttersbach, founder of AI software company Zauber.
Speaking on The Loadstar Podcast, Mr Muttersbach said AI could transform freight forwarding into a higher-value, higher-margin business over the next three to five years, with a growing divide between companies that adopt the technology quickly and those that struggle to keep pace.
Mr Muttersbach said 2025 saw a wave of AI start-ups and funding announcements, while 2026 has been characterised by companies running pilots and proofs of concept, alongside industry leaders committing to larger-scale deployments.
He expects the first results of these implementations to become visible in financial reporting next year, particularly in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), shipment volumes and customer retention.
The challenge, he said, is not simply implementing software but transforming organisations. For this reason, he said that CEOs must articulate how AI will improve the business and address employees' concerns about job security and changing business models.
He highlighted that rather than using AI to increase productivity, forwarders should instead target opportunities to improve profitability. These include charging for waiting time, managing demurrage and detention cases more effectively, and improving allocation management by using earlier visibility of inbound volumes to make better use of carrier contracts.
AI could also help forwarders deliver on complex customer-specific requirements that have traditionally been difficult to manage consistently across global operations. Mr Muttersbach explained AI systems could draw on customer standard operating procedures (SOPs), previous correspondence, transport management system (TMS) data and operational expertise to ensure shipments are handled according to individual customer needs.
Historically, these requirements have often created additional work without being properly priced into contracts, while inconsistent knowledge across branches can result in service failures.
"There's an opportunity to do incredibly individual customer service every single time," he stressed, and underscored that forwarders that continue offering only standardised services risk losing their competitive edge as customers increasingly expect individualised service to become the norm.
While AI will not eliminate the need for human relationships, Mr Muttersbach expects roles to change significantly, with people focusing more on complex problems, customer relationships and strategic supply chain support.
On whether to build or buy AI systems, Mr Muttersbach recommended developing in-house solutions where a forwarder has a genuine strategic advantage, such as distinctive approaches to customer order management or carrier allocation.
More standardised processes, meanwhile, may be better handled by specialist providers with the experience and data to deploy solutions quickly and cost-effectively.
He also stressed the importance of integration: AI must have access to the same operational actions as human employees through APIs or EDI connections if it is to automate meaningful work.
