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Freight Forwarding Sector Lags in Digital Integration Despite Heavy Tech Investment

European and Middle Eastern logistics companies continue to rely heavily on manual processes despite a decade of digital spending. Seventy-two percent of firms plan document automation investments over the next 18 months, yet only 29 percent have implemented digital tools across core workflows. More than half of companies experienced shipment delays attributed to document errors, while 61 percent still depend on emails and spreadsheets for operational communication. Legacy system integration remains the largest adoption barrier, cited by 47 percent of respondents. Most logistics operations span disconnected technology platforms including transportation management, enterprise resource planning, and warehouse management systems, with employees manually bridging gaps between systems. Real operational work continues flowing through emails, PDFs, spreadsheets and messaging threads rather than integrated platforms.