Facing tariffs, conflict, shifting trade lanes and rate pressure, forwarders are investing in technology, diversification and value-added services to help shippers manage disruption and keep freight moving.
The lyrics to Bob Dylan’s 1960s hit “The Times They Are A-Changin’” feel especially fitting in today’s freight forwarding market. As tariffs, trade wars, and a host of global disruptions continue to reshape business conditions almost daily, technology is also playing an increasingly important role in helping forwarders adapt and drive growth.
Transport Intelligence (Ti), in its “Global Freight Forwarding Mid-Year Market Size & Forecasts 2025” report, says the global freight forwarding market is expected to increase in real terms by 2.9% in 2025. However, the jury is still out on how 2026 figures will fare.
Cumulative challenges
On the surface, the industry is facing a host of growing challenges, such as President Trump’s “Liberation Day” in early April 2025 that implemented sweeping, controversial tariffs on nearly all imports. Subsequent and frequent tariff rate changes continue to keep shippers on high alert, therefore, increasing demand for freight forwarder and logistics professionals.
“Add to this the rollback of de minimis thresholds, which led to increased activity in freight forwarders’ compliance departments, and uncertainties surrounding shipping routes in the Red Sea,” says Evan Armstrong, CEO of Armstrong & Associates (A&A). “Tariff volatility and shifting trade policies, especially U.S.-China tensions, are making routing and cost forecasting extremely difficult. Red Sea-Suez disruptions from Houthi attacks are forcing longer routes around the Cape of Good Hope, adding to cost and transit time.”
Then there’s the impact of the 2026 Iran conflict, which has caused a significant supply chain shock, particularly in air cargo capacity at key Middle East hubs in addition to a sharp surge in global freight rates.
Consequently, today’s global freight forwarding market in 2026 is operating in what many are calling a “perpetual disruption” environment, where volatility has become the norm rather than the exception. As a result, research by London-based Transport Intelligence (Ti) shows that across the sector, revenue performance has weakened despite resilient demand.
“This trend is largely driven by falling air and ocean freight rates, even as shipment volumes have remained stable or increased,” says Ti researchers.
In its recent research work, Ti finds that more diversified players such as DP World, DSV, NTG and Scan Global Logistics have achieved revenue growth. But this growth is largely driven by acquisitions and adjacent business segments—including terminals, road freight, and contract logistics—rather than traditional forwarding.
“Soft demand and ample freight capacity continue to define much of the market, creating a fragile, but generally shipper friendly environment, though persistent geopolitical risks, tariff adjustments, and regulatory shifts inject ongoing uncertainty,” says Marc Sawaya, chief commercial officer at CEVA Logistics.
Structural disruptions, value added
DHL Global Forwarding executives observe how shippers are operating in a market where disruption is no longer episodic, but structural.
“The main challenges today are geopolitical volatility, sudden route disruptions, constrained or shifting capacity, cost swings driven by fuel and security surcharges, and growing pressure to make supply chains both more resilient and more sustainable,” says Caspar Ellerback, global head of ocean freight, DHL Global Forwarding.
Ellerback finds that customers no longer ask: ‘Can you move my freight?’ “They are asking, ‘Can you help me manage risk, cost, compliance and carbon in a market that keeps changing underneath us?” he says.
And that’s where forwarders add value today—by combining network reach, local expertise, digital visibility and contingency planning to keep supply chains moving.
Today most forwarders are making operational and strategic adjustments in response to these changing market conditions. “They are diversifying their carrier mix and routing options and establishing redundancy by securing multiple carrier contracts and exploring alternative trade lanes to mitigate risks, such as rerouting around the Red Sea,” says Armstrong.
Ellerback concurs: “Forwarders are moving beyond pure transportation execution and acting more as orchestration partners. That means helping customers redesign routings in real time, shift between modes when needed, build contingency options, improve visibility over cargo flows, and navigate customs, regulatory, and sustainability requirements with more precision.”
In essence, companies are prioritizing efficiency, cost control, and productivity gains operationally to protect margins in a low-rate environment.
Technology to build resilience, capturing growth
One way that forwarders are scaling and diversifying to build resilience and capture growth is through the increase in buy-side mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity aimed at achieving greater scale and enhancing service capabilities.
“This includes geographic coverage, vertical expertise, value-added services, and technology platforms,” says Armstrong says. One example is DSV’s expansion through absorbing Schenker (see sidebar).
Indeed, technology is rapidly becoming a core competitive differentiator in freight forwarding, as the sector shifts from basic digitization toward integrated, intelligent, and increasingly autonomous logistics ecosystems.
Sawaya of CEVA Logistics finds that customers increasingly expect real time visibility, integrated digital workflows, and proactive disruption management. “Surveys show only 23% of forwarders have digitized at least 75% of their processes, while 38% of shippers remain dissatisfied with their forwarders’ technology capabilities, highlighting a widening expectation gap,” he says.
According to Sawaya, forwarders are also consolidating fragmented systems into unified digital platforms covering quoting, booking, documentation, and end-to-end tracking, reducing booking time by up to 30% and improving visibility by 25%. “These platforms give customers a more seamless experience while improving internal workflow efficiency,” he says.
Enter AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications are currently the most popular area in freight forwarding technology—and one of the fastest scaling areas of investment. According to freightos.com, AI is expected to handle 20% of route tasks within five years.
“Forwarders are eager to implement new capabilities across various key functions,” says Armstong. “Automated quoting and rate management tools are streamlining what used to be a labor-intensive, e-mail-driven process.” He adds that new “predictive pricing” and estimated time of arrival (ETA) engines provide both forwarders and shippers with increased confidence in costs and timing, while anomaly detection in shipment data helps teams identify issues—such as misrouted cargo, unexpected delays, and billing discrepancies—before they escalate.
“The most sophisticated digital platforms are embedding AI directly into everyday workflows, combining data, context, decisions and execution for agentic supply chains,” remarks Matt Castle, vice president, global forwarding products at C.H. Robinson.
Castle describes how C.H. Robinson’s in-house team of 450 software engineers and data scientists has custom-built hundreds of connected AI agents orchestrating millions of shipping tasks. “Lean AI, our unique disciplined approach to applying AI, makes smarter, faster decisions and gives shippers premium service round the clock,” he adds.
Beyond software, companies are upgrading physical infrastructure and automation capabilities, Ti notes. DHL Group is investing in advanced sorting systems to handle e-commerce growth, while Maersk and DP World are modernizing terminals with automation technologies such as BOXBAY and exploring autonomous freight systems.
Strategic partnerships are further accelerating innovation. For instance, in 2025, the CMA CGM Group partnered with Mistral AI, backed by a €100m investment, to scale AI adoption across shipping and logistics.
“Furthermore, digital twins are becoming increasingly popular in supply chain planning,” says Armstrong. “They allow companies to simulate disruption scenarios and optimize logistics network design before committing resources in the real world.
Armstrong notes how AI agents and voice bots are increasingly managing routine customer inquiries, allowing operations staff to focus on exceptions and complex shipments. “Automated document processing is addressing the significant paperwork involved in international shipping by extracting and validating data from bills of lading, customs forms, and invoices with minimal human intervention,” he says.
Furthermore, smart route optimization now considers not just cost and transit time, but also carbon emissions, highlighting the growing importance of sustainability in logistics decision-making.
In for a landing
In summary, technology enables forwarders to move from reactive transport providers to proactive, data-driven orchestrators of global supply chains by delivering tangible operational, strategic, and customer-experience benefits to global shippers.
Shippers are increasingly using these tools not just to track shipments and actively manage supply chains, but to plan proactively and mitigate risk. Not only are these technologies improving efficiency, accuracy and speed of execution, shippers are more able to experience faster order fulfilment, fewer errors, and more reliable delivery performance.
A closer look at forwarder investments
Freight forwarders are expanding their investments across multiple fronts—from digital visibility and AI to sustainability and autonomous logistics. Here are a few examples:
Kuehne + Nagel (K+N) is making a substantial investment in its myKN digital platform, which provides cross-carrier visibility by aggregating data from more than 1,200 shipping lines. The platform offers predictive ETAs and AI-powered analytics and is expected to deliver significant efficiency gains. K+N is also positioning tracking and visibility as a key differentiator, while reportedly upselling AI consulting services to customers. Its Seaexplorer platform now provides transit-time analytics to help customers assess congestion, capacity trends, and schedule reliability across trade lanes.
DHL Global Forwarding continues to develop advanced air freight management systems that integrate tracking, customs compliance, and automated documentation, with a strong emphasis on time-sensitive shipment management.
To sharpen its digitalization strategy, the company launched an “Accelerated Digitalization” structure designed to scale digital capabilities, deploy AI-powered solutions, and improve customer responsiveness. That effort builds on ongoing enhancements to myDHLi, DHL Global Forwarding’s customer platform, which gives shippers end-to-end visibility and control and now includes GenAI-supported assistance, improved exception management, and stronger analytics for resilience and sustainability.
In addition, the company launched its GoGreen Plus portfolio in February, including GoGreen Plus Base, which offers a default 10% emissions reduction for eligible shipments at a fixed flat rate.
DSV is building “ONE DSV” as part of its post-Schenker acquisition strategy—an integrated digital freight forwarding ecosystem focused on cargo visibility and optimized air capacity. The move represents the largest integration in freight forwarding history. To support greater real-time visibility and control, DSV also offers SecureShip, which combines GPS tracking, geofencing, and AI-based threat detection to secure cargo end-to-end.
Nippon Express implemented AI-powered load prediction software in 2025 as part of a broader push toward digital transformation and autonomous logistics processes, aimed in part at addressing Japan’s shrinking workforce.
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics is implementing AI agents to automate complex processes such as quoting, supported by large-scale systems integration. Together, these developments point to increasingly predictive and self-optimizing freight operations.
