By Richie Lin    Photo：CANVA

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been discussed for decades. However, it hasn’t created profound influences and evolved exponentially until the appearance of ChatGPT in front of the world. Nowadays, AI has penetrated into everybody’s minds to transform not only the industry of Information and communications technology but also each industry all over the world.

A saying goes that AI will become a big industry and the tool to transform and upgrade the procedures of all aspects in the supply chain from purchasing, manufacturing and logistics. Today, let’s try to explore more about how AI will have profound impact on the logistics industry right now and the future. 

AI is already having a significant impact on the logistics industry and is expected to continue shaping its future in several key ways.

1. Demand Forecasting: AI can analyze vast amounts of data to predict demand more accurately, helping companies manage inventory levels more efficiently.

2. Route Optimization: AI algorithms can find the most efficient routes for vessels, airplanes, and trucks, take into accounts the traffic, port congestions, labor strikes, wars, weather, and other variables to reduce fuel consumption and suggest mitigation strategies.

3. AI can analyze customer behavior to offer personalized product recommendations and shipping options. AI-driven customer service bots can handle inquiries and provide real-time support, improving the customer experience.

4. AI can provide real-time visibility into the status of shipments, streamline port operations, predict arrival times of vessels to enable better tracking and coordination across the supply chain. This improves reliability and customer satisfaction.

5. AI will optimize routes and improve fuel efficiency, reducing the carbon footprint of logistics operations. Additionally, better inventory management will minimize waste.

Logistics industry has evolved for centuries since the Great Exploration era. In many ways, it is the so-called traditional industry. It evolved slowly compared with other industries because it is the late responder, not the pioneer for any new technology.

The transportation mode evolved gradually from wagons, trains, trucks, ships, airplanes. And logistics industry also use information technology to enhance the communications, data transfers, and customer satisfactions. The pace might be slowly but eventually logistics companies were also forced to adapt to the new technology, otherwise they would become less and less competitive in the long run.

Now AI bring us into another paradigm shift era. Everyone has predicted and anticipated the explosions of AI applications in each industry. As usual, logistics companies cannot escape the change this time. They can only try to evolve as much as possible. There are many different companies playing in the end to end logistics from pick-up of cargo from factories until delivery at the final destinations.

These companies include trucking companies, freight forwarders, shipping lines, airlines, customs brokers. Each company has its own system to save the data and transfer the data to another company or to the customers. Each company needs to interpret the data from other companies into readable data to provide to their customers.

Take the tracking shipments for example. Every shipping line, airlines, trucking companies, or even some freight forwarders can provide automatic tracking information.

However, the details from different companies have different expressions, or even inaccurate ones. Therefore, someone needs to collect data from different companies then organize them into the format required to present to customers. With the assistance of AI, we can collect multiple data from different parts in the supply chain and interpret to the customized information for each customer.

AI application in the logistics industry will be not only required but necessary in the near future. Those unfamiliar with AI applications will be replaced by those can take advantage of what AI can do. Overall, companies that embrace AI technologies will be better positioned to thrive in the future logistics landscape.

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