AI helping the industry to work smarter

AI is reshaping South African logistics, helping consolidators and other logistics service providers to cut delays, reduce costs and boost resilience, according to Dylan Govender, head of supply chain at Investec Business Banking. The Iran crisis has accelerated the need for AI-enabled planning and routing which can work faster and more accurately than most humans. It is estimated that two out of every five ocean freight and three in every seven airfreight organisations using CargoWise have been impacted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Fresh thinking is required of the consolidators and other logistics providers, says CargoWise market intelligence product manager Jon Charles. “Most disruption planning still focuses on answering ‘what happened’. The shift logistics companies should be making is asking, ‘what risk is emerging’, and ‘what should I do next?’” For consolidators, the advantages of investing in AI are listed as dynamic load optimisation, predictive routing and demand forecasting. ER