Starboard founder Sumeet Trehan argues that AI technology can level the playing field for small and mid-sized freight forwarders competing against industry giants. The core challenge is managing the daily chaos of the quote desk -- a deluge of emails, PDFs, spreadsheets, carrier portals, agent responses, and rates that fluctuate before data can be properly processed. Rather than displacing smaller forwarders, Trehan sees AI as an enabler that allows them to compete on service quality and responsiveness without the massive back-office infrastructure of large competitors. The development comes as freight forwarding undergoes broader digitization, with AI demonstrations proliferating across the industry but practical, operational deployment remaining the key differentiator.
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