Freightos FreightTech 2020 Suggests Technological Advancemen

The speaker agenda was full at the Freightos annual FreightTech event in Barcelona between Feb. 3-4, as industry leaders, along with freight and tech visionaries discussed the integration of technology in the daily operations of freight work spaces. 

About 85 industry leaders attended the event between Feb. 3-4, including heavyweights like Maersk, MSC, KLM, DSV/Panalpina, Perry Ellis, Electrolux, and others. Freight Right’s founder and CEO, Robert Khachatryan was among those to attend this two-day event, where speakers enlightened the guests with insight and direction.  

The speaking professionals defined their observations and expertise on how companies can fuse advanced analytics systems to create digital platforms that will serve both, their customers and businesses.  

The China-U.S. Trade War was also featured in the speaker-series, as Dean Croke of FreightWaves highlighted some of the newer emerging import trends as a result of this integral economic barrier— which has not only affected the United States and China —but also other countries in close trade relations.  

Jeffrey Cronkshaw of Lancia Consulting shared his experience of transforming businesses with the help of technology. New advancements and the adoption of modern equipment like AI, Drones, and Clean Tech, was also made clear by Céline Hourcade of Change Horizon.  

In addition to invited speakers, some logistics professionals were also asked to speak to the attending crowd about their experience in this fast-growing business arena.  

Freight Right’s Khachatryan described some of the advancements that the industry has seen in the past years, along with some of the difficulties that companies are often faced with.  

"One of the main concerns of freight digitization leaders is that their own companies are fighting the changes. It is understandable because these ideas are often disruptive to incumbents’ businesses,” said Khachartryan, as he pointed out some common issues within the industry. “Not so for smaller, nimbler forwarders like Freight Right. We actively seek out disrupters and constantly test new technologies and platforms.”  

Janan Knust, whose company, K Logistics is leading freight digitization with a state-of-the-art homegrown platform for booking and visibility, also spoke about the lack of interest of North American LogTech in the Latin American market. 

Some other topics of interest during this two-day event were the standardization of global logistics; trends, and tech drivers; the shift in air cargo technologies; new approaches to customer service; The State of M&A and Investment in Global Logistics, and others.  

Overall, the FreightTech event uncovered a scope of technological advancements that the global logistics industry has yet to see. This served as an important stepping stone that broke the barriers between the old and new; and the outdated and innovative.