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Rhenus Sees Forwarder Role Shifting to Exception Management as Automation Advances

Freight forwarders will increasingly operate from logistics command centres, managing exceptions rather than processing routine shipments, according to Rhenus Group leadership. Jan Harnisch, CEO of Air & Ocean, said the forwarder of the future will spend considerably less time on standard shipment execution as automated systems handle routine flows. For complex scenarios, human operators will take direct control and lead decision-making processes. Rhenus Air & Ocean CIO Frank Hinkel recently published a framework outlining what an AI-native forwarding organization could resemble, built around data orchestration, AI agents, and human oversight rather than isolated tools. The shift represents a fundamental transformation in operator roles across the forwarding sector, moving away from transaction processing toward strategic exception handling and shipment flow management.