With the burgeoning requirement for freight safety and time-controlled deliveries, surge in global and domestic trade, and increasing adoption of smart technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytical solutions, and internet of things (IoT), the demand for digital freight forwarding is rising sharply across the world. Big data analytics and other enterprise management suites (ERP) are used for handling many complex tasks and operations, thereby recuing the dependency on human work, which often leads to operation delays, miscalculations, and inefficiencies.

Moreover, with the growing demand for greater accuracy in product deliveries, shorter delivery time periods, and higher effectiveness of freight operations, the adoption of advanced technologies is surging in the industry. This is subsequently driving the growth of the global digital freight forwarding market. DHL International GmbH, J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., Schneider National, UTi Worldwide, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc., and Descartes are some of the major digital freight forwarders across the world. These organizations are actively focusing on reducing the reliance of human workers for contacting carriers, scheduling deliveries, controlling fleet operations, and negotiating rates.

Forwarders, shippers, carriers, brokers, and third-party logistics (3PLs) are the major end users of digital freight forwarding solutions. Out of these, the adoption of these solutions is predicted to be the highest by 3PLs in the coming years. This will be due to the fact that 3PLs hold an important position in the overall supply chain, as they incorporate the operations of transportation and warehousing services in order to cater to the customer requirements and meet the market conditions.

Road freight, air freight, ocean freight, and rail freight are the major modes via which digital freight forwarding solutions are deployed. Out of these, the demand for the ocean freight modes is predicted to explode in the coming years, primarily because of the fact that a majority of the worldwide trade takes place through oceans and seas. However, the popularity of the air freight mode will also surge in the upcoming years, owing to the growing requirement for brisk product delivery speeds, on account of the soaring e-commerce sales.

Across the world, the demand for digital freight forwarding solutions was the highest in North America in 2019, as per the findings of P&S Intelligence, a market research company based in India. This is ascribed to the fact that the U.S. is the global leader in international trade. Additionally, many digital freight forwarders are based out of North America. However, the digital freight forwarding market is also predicted to register the fastest growth in Asia-Pacific (APAC) in the upcoming years, because of the presence of special economic zones (SEZ) and the expansion of manufacturing bases in the region.

Hence, it is safe to say that the demand for digital freight forwarding solutions will soar in the years to come, primarily because of the booming international and domestic trade and soaring e-commerce sales all over the world.