There is a lot of talk about AI in logistics right now. Much of it is about big visions. We find it more interesting to look at an ordinary Tuesday in a forwarder’s inbox.
Most of the day is reading and gathering
When you follow a dispatcher for a day, it is striking how little of the time goes on the decisions themselves. Most of it goes on:
- reading requests in emails, attachments and PDFs, and typing in route, goods, weight and dates,
- finding the right partners for the lane and writing around for prices,
- gathering the replies, which arrive in different formats and at different times.
That work takes attention, but not judgement. And that is exactly where AI is strong.
Where AI helps
Reading. A language model can read a request and its attachments and find the information that is needed, even when it is written differently every time. Anything missing or unclear can be flagged, so a person can ask the customer instead of guessing.
Finding. With your partner data and price history, AI can suggest which partners fit the lane, the goods and the equipment, and bring up the relevant prices.
Gathering. Partner replies, contract rates and market prices can be lined up in the same format, so they can be compared directly.
Where AI shouldn’t decide
AI is good at preparing. It is not responsible for the customer relationship.
Which price you give an important customer, whether to take a low-margin job to keep a lane warm, or whether a partner gets another chance after a bad delivery, are decisions built on experience and relationships. They should stay with the dispatcher.
That is why we believe a good AI tool in freight forwarding should be able to run with nothing sent without a person’s approval, and that you should decide how quickly you open up for more automation.
Start small
The best way to find out what AI can do in your day is to try it on your own requests. Let it read and prepare in the background, and compare with what you would have done yourselves. You will quickly see where it gets things right, and where you still want your hands on the wheel.
Read more about how Fragta prepares spot quotes, or about why we keep the human in the loop.
Send us a real enquiry and we’ll walk you through the full quote in 30 minutes.
