3PLs are developing AI solutions that stretch across each link in the supply chain.
While volatility continues to impede the supply chain – from tariffs to geopolitical conflicts – third-party logistics providers (3PLs) are embedding AI in operations to combat the uncertainty.
“As we have witnessed over the past several years, volatility in global markets is becoming the norm rather than the exception,” Dusty Gray, VP of Distribution Solutions Engineering at NFI explains. “Disruptions — whether driven by geopolitical shifts, tariff changes, or demand swings — require a level of agility that traditional planning methods simply cannot deliver.” Alternatively, Gray says AI is enabling NFI to get ahead of that volatility through the use of digital twins, dynamic network modeling, and real-time scenario planning.
From Back-Office to Warehouse to Fleet
AI is particularly useful for 3PLs — like C.H. Robinson and NFI — from the back-office to the warehouse to the fleet. Albrecht poses C.H. Robinson’s AI agent for quoting as a good example of AI’s impact on the company’s operations. “We get over 10,000 emailed requests for price quotes a day. With our AI agent handling those, it contributes to our revenue growth because we can now respond to 100% of quote requests instead of only 60-65%. It contributes to our margin expansion because pricing is more precise, informed by thousands of data points. We’re delivering better service to our customers because they receive a price quote in 32 seconds instead of that email sitting in someone’s inbox until they can get to it. In turn, automating this manual work frees our people to do more strategic problem-solving for our customers, and that adds up to a 50% increase in our productivity since the end of 2022.”
Albrecht says C.H. Robinson combines AI with their Lean operating model. “Lean AI is embedded in everything we do. It’s how we run our business, not just sprinkled on top of our tech or our processes.”
Meanwhile, in the warehouse, Gray from NFI says one of the most significant shifts they are seeing within distribution is the move from siloed robotic controls to intelligent orchestration layers. These systems serve as the operational “brain” of a facility, enabling different makes and models of robots — AMRs, AGVs, and AS/RS systems — to function as a single, coordinated workforce with minimal manual intervention.
Gray continues, “The focus has evolved beyond the hardware itself to how these systems communicate and make decisions together to optimize the entire facility in real time. What we are achieving today in automation efficiency would not have been possible just two to three years ago. AI is being layered onto existing solutions across our operations, significantly elevating the quality and speed of decision-making at every level of the warehouse.”
According to the 2025 Third-Party Logistics Study from NTT, 3PLs are also using AI to improve predictive maintenance on fleet vehicles, which improves uptime and prevents delays. “Engines, telematics devices, ELDs and safety technology all transmit data. One of the challenges with large amounts of data is that it can create noise. However, when analyzed, it can predict potential failures, when they will occur and the root cause of the failure so providers can get ahead of issues before they create more significant problems.”
Improving Customer Service
“AI is fundamentally changing how our teams spend their time — and that directly benefits our customers,” Gray from NFI confirms. “We are streamlining a wide range of back-office activities, enabling our people to move away from manual, non-value-add tasks and redirect their energy toward strategic, high-impact conversations. Within our engineering group specifically, AI is reducing the administrative burden on our design teams, freeing them to develop a deeper understanding of each customer’s unique challenges and rigorously pressure-test alternate solutions. The outcome is better-designed supply chain solutions and faster time-to-implementation. When our people are empowered to think rather than administrate, the quality of our work improves across the board.”
Rather than reacting to disruptions after they occur, Gray says NFI can model the downstream impact via AI and present clients with actionable options before a situation escalates. “The result is a more proactive partnership with our customers — one that drives meaningful risk mitigation and measurable cost reduction.”
Since 2023, C.H. Robinson has been building AI agents that perform real-world shipping tasks and operate their customers’ global supply chains, in contrast to building simple chatbots for customer interaction or querying data. That has grown to an ecosystem of hundreds of orchestrated AI agents embedded in critical workflows, including AI agents that help the AI agents.
“Customers get premium service round the clock, and they get a more intelligent supply chain that operates with greater speed, reliability and efficiency,” Albrecht from C.H. Robinson reveals. “Our latest stats show that when our AI is applied across connected steps, it results in up to 23% faster speed to market for shipments. The faster we can process a customer’s order, the faster we can secure an ideal appointment for pickup and delivery, the faster we can select the ideal carrier for their shipment.”
Albrecht adds that customers can also see up to a 35% increase in shipments picked up on time, improving warehouse and loading dock throughput, minimizing fines for arriving outside the appointment window, reducing downstream delays and rescheduling, and enabling more accurate inventory planning.
The NTT report shows improving operational efficiency and decision-making can help drive ROI for AI, and 37% of 3PLs expect strong ROI from AI through service level improvements.
The AI Advantage
3PLs deploying AI solutions are gaining a competitive advantage, according to the NTT study. “The majority of shippers say 3PLs’ use of AI would influence their choice of a 3PL partner and that they would be very likely (13%), likely (29%) or somewhat likely (32%) to switch 3PL providers based on their AI capabilities.”
AI is being seen as a must-have competitive advantage for 3PLs, but Albrecht from C.H. Robinson warns, “Access to AI itself is not a differentiator. Anyone can say they’re using AI. What matters is how it’s engineered then operationalized and scaled. At that engineering stage, one of the biggest competitive advantages with AI comes from the data and context that powers it.”
“It starts with data,” Gray from NFI agrees. “Before AI can drive meaningful and actionable results, you need a foundation of accurate information. Without it, you risk unreliable outputs and the insights produced cannot be trusted.”
The NTT report confirms that accurate data can improve a 3PL’s ability to plan and secure capacity, optimize routes, plan and schedule labor, and maximize warehouse operations.
“The context that AI needs comes from institutional knowledge and tribal knowledge — literally what’s in people’s heads from decades of experience,” Albrecht adds. “Our expert logisticians teach our AI agents what’s necessary to serve each customer. You can’t just buy that or get it from some off-the-shelf product.”
Gray concludes, “Simply having AI embedded in your workflows is no longer a differentiator — the competitive advantage now lies in knowing how to harness AI effectively across every facet of your operations. AI is not a trend we are chasing — it is a fundamental shift in how supply chain and logistics operations will be run.”
