Air Cargo

Freight Forwarders Emerge as Critical Infrastructure as Supply Chain Disruptions Intensify

Freight forwarders have become essential to maintaining resilient logistics networks amid escalating global disruptions, according to industry leaders with decades of experience in crisis response operations.

The sector's ability to identify alternative capacity, develop new routing solutions and navigate regulatory challenges has proven invaluable during humanitarian emergencies and commercial supply chain breakdowns. Logistics networks have responded to more than 200 crises across 100 countries, coordinating responses involving over 50 airlines and 250 organizations.

Governments now recognize logistics as critical infrastructure. NATO allies committed up to 1.5% of GDP toward protecting critical infrastructure and civil preparedness, with much of that capacity depending on commercial air cargo arrangements managed by forwarders.

Today's environment presents compounding pressures: trade route disruptions from geopolitical conflicts, sustained cost constraints, unpredictable trade policies and rising cargo theft. Forwarders continue securing capacity and maintaining supply chain continuity despite these headwinds.