You can automate the 80% that’s routine. That leaves more time for the 20% that really needs you.
– Me, pretty much every week lately
Digital transformation in freight isn’t about going fully robotic. It’s about finding the right mix – using tech to smooth the repetitive stuff while keeping people at the center of problem-solving. And that balance is no longer optional. It’s the new standard.
At Freightos, we just wrapped up our latest State of Online Freight 2025 Report – our sixth in a decade – and hosted a webinar to unpack the results. What we saw, in short: more tech than ever, but more caution too. A sector caught between wanting scale and not wanting to lose what makes this industry work: trust.
Let’s break it down.
Everyone Wants Digital. Not Everyone Wants Digital for Everyone.
Here’s what the numbers say:
- Only 38% of LSPs offer low-touch instant quoting for ocean freight.
- But if you include those with gated instant quoting – tools available only to vetted or onboarded customers – that number jumps to 72%.
- And 65% of forwarders now require account creation just to submit a quote request, up from 20% in 2021.
What that tells us: forwarders know shippers want digital tools – but many still want to shake your hand before giving you access.
And honestly, that makes sense.
Freight is a relationship business. You can digitize a booking, but you can’t digitize trust. Especially not when there’s a vessel stuck in the Red Sea or a last-minute customs snag at JFK. That’s why even the most tech-savvy LSPs are still figuring out how to make digital quoting feel more like a conversation and less like a vending machine.
Digital quoting doesn’t replace trust – it scales it. Grab the full report for insights on how top forwarders are making it work.
“Self-Service, But With a Human Safety Net”
That’s the phrase I hear from forwarders again and again. They want to be more accessible, not less. They want their customers to be able to self-serve – search rates, get quotes, book online – but only when it makes sense.
When something goes sideways, they want to talk to their person.
– Yep, I said that too
It’s a balance forwarders know well. As Megan Kelley, VP of Enterprise Applications at Crane Worldwide Logistics, puts it:
Clients are requesting both tariff/contract rates AND the ability to quote out those same trade lanes – or simply avoiding the RFQ/massive Excel spreadsheet bidding process entirely… Technology that reduces human correction or intervention lets us focus on service, not inbox tennis.
Tech streamlines. People step in when things go off script.
It’s why so many forwarders now treat their digital quoting tools as part of a wider customer experience – one that includes premium offerings, real-time tracking, and yes, human support when it matters most.
That insight isn’t just coming from shippers. It’s something even digital-first leaders are leaning into.
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen, reflecting on his return to the company, said:
We had moved away from that in pursuit of efficiency. What I did in my first two and a half months back was five customer calls a day.
In a world racing to automate, the competitive edge is still knowing your customer – and calling them.
Digital quoting, human touch. Watch how top LSPs are doing both.
What Changed? Everything – Fast.
When we published our first mystery shopper report back in 2017, zero of the top 20 forwarders had instant online quoting. Now, nearly half do, and all 8 digital-first forwarders are in the game. But the real story is in how quoting has evolved.
Instant quotes aren’t just static PDFs anymore. They’re the gateway to full-service platforms that:
- Let shippers compare modes, prices, and transit times side-by-side
- Add customs clearance, insurance, even CO₂ offsets at checkout
- Lead directly into online booking and shipment management dashboards
80% of low-touch quoting tools now include direct online booking. 83% lead into full shipment visibility platforms.
This isn’t quoting. It’s a digital customer journey.
The Hybrid Reality: Tech That Connects, Not Replaces
Let me be clear: this isn’t about replacing humans. It’s about freeing them up to do more of the stuff humans are good at – like solving exceptions, building relationships, and navigating volatile markets.
Take quoting. Manually pricing every LCL shipment from Shenzhen to Savannah? That’s not a value-add. But building a system that automatically prices that lane based on margin logic, historical spend, or index-linked contracts? That’s where you add value – by ensuring it’s right, profitable, and customer-appropriate.
And that only works if:
- Your rate data is clean and centralized
- You know how to structure buy-to-sell logic dynamically
- Your tools integrate with both your internal stack and your customer-facing experience
The biggest thing I hear is: You just have to start. Get your hands dirty. Try, fail, and learn fast.
– Also me
Why Many Still Haven’t Made the Leap
If the tech is available, why haven’t more forwarders jumped in?
Three big reasons:
- Crisis whiplash – From COVID to the Suez blockage to the Red Sea to tariffs, forwarders have been firefighting non-stop.
- System sprawl – Many forwarders are juggling 20–30 systems that barely talk to each other.
- Change is hard – Especially when your clients also prefer to do things the old way.
But here’s the flip side: digital quoting is becoming a competitive necessity. And every delay makes it harder to catch up.
Your Tech Stack Doesn’t Need to Be Fancy. Just Functional.
The best tech transformations I’ve seen among forwarders don’t start with “AI-enabled hyperautomation.” They start with simple questions:
- “What are my customers asking me for every day?”
- “What can I standardize or automate without losing my edge?”
- “What could I hand off to software so I can focus on the hard stuff?”
From there, the playbook looks like this:
- Clean up your data
- Invest in flexible rate management (not just spreadsheets)
- Build a quoting experience that reflects your brand and service promise
- Train your teams to work within it
- Make sure it integrates into everything else – especially your TMS, CRM, and BI tools
The Freightos Fusion Approach
We’re calling our new approach “Fusion” because it’s all about interconnecting.
Across carriers. Across forwarders. Across systems. Across shippers.
Whether you’re looking for:
- Dynamic pricing tools for airline partners
- Smart rate management for ocean contracts
- White-labeled sales portals for SMB forwarders
- Or integrated quoting + booking flows for your customers
…we’re building it to work together – and with you.
Because the only thing worse than no tech is tech that doesn’t talk to the rest of your tech.
Final Word: Be the Forwarder You’d Want to Book With
Digitization doesn’t mean losing your personal touch. Done right, it means you show up smarter, faster, and more available.
It means your customer doesn’t need to call you to get a quote – but they’ll still want to.
And when they do, you’ll have everything at your fingertips.
That’s not just digital sales. That’s digital trust.
