Globally, freight has shifted throughout the 2020s to accommodate geopolitical and geoeconomic uncertainties, creating disparities in supply vs. demand. In response, many shippers have begun to operate according to a just-in-case supply chain: stockpiling inventory in order to always have stock on hand in case of unpredictable consumer demand patterns. However, this puts small businesses at a disadvantage as keeping extra stock on hand can create enormous cost pressures. Amazon Freight’s customer obsession approach helps enable small businesses to overcome challenges like these.

Intermodality is becoming increasingly important in the freight industry not only as a way to optimise freight routes and make shipping more efficient, but also as a sustainability measure. Since trialling intermodal journeys since 2023, Amazon Freight has found a 20% cost reduction and 50% carbon reduction as compared to road-only journeys.

There are significant changes coming to the types of technologies used in freight, how it will aid freight carriers and shippers, and how it will interact with other systems. As intermodality becomes more common throughout the sector, the technology required to track the end-to-end journey must become more sophisticated and small shippers must be vigilant about keeping digital transformation front of mind.

Shippers increasingly want to be able to track their cargo’s journey and extract key data insights. This requires streamlined digital interoperability: the ability for data to flow seamlessly between all the systems, people, and businesses that help shipments arrive at their destinations. Adopting the right technology is imperative to ensure interoperability.

To future proof their operations and combat challenges such as climate change and fragmented systems, shippers will need to make strategic technology investments. Identifying the key markets and agents within their unique supply chain will enable freight providers to choose the right technology tools that align with corresponding systems.

Larger players in the freight sector have a responsibility to invest in climate action; Amazon has committed to the Climate Pledge to have net zero carbon emissions across our operations by 2040. On a smaller scale, the most immediate impact shippers can have on their sustainability efforts is having a clear set of sustainability guidelines.

It is widely understood that there is a great need for data sharing and collaboration. However, there is increasing anxiety surrounding data security. Data security is crucial to ensure systems can interact with each other in a safe manner.

There is a shift occurring from physical paper into a more data-driven world. As digital infrastructure is being built into trade, shippers should prepare for a huge move towards digital trade beyond just ecommerce. This includes taking away all manual processes and doing everything digitally, either in the cloud or in a blockchain.

Dr. Harding describes her ideal freight future as one where technology facilitates a smooth transition in day-to-day freight operations between A and B, cargo being delivered on time, and data doing the hard work in climate change mitigation. In a perfect future, digital and AI work together to make positive change in trade.

Empty legs can account for as much as 15-30% or more in freight. AI can remove these empty legs by providing context for what causes them and an understanding of what needs to be done to fix these issues. Moving forward, AI tools can be used constructively to plug the gaps that we otherwise can’t. Amazon utilises machine translation to improve customer interfaces in a variety of different languages.

Traditionally, freight has meant engaging a carrier at point A and waiting for an update at end point B. However, some of these movements are hundreds of thousands of kilometers long and many are intermodal. It’s crucial for freight providers to offer visibility all the way through from pickup to end point delivery. Recently, Amazon increased a customer’s freight visibility from 0% to 87%, allowing them to manage their supply chain better and deal with disruptions in real-time.

A more collaborative effort is required in freight. If carriers talk to each other and communicate effectively, empty legs may disappear and carriers will be able to do more with less, reducing costs and carbon emissions.