Logistics companies worldwide are investing heavily in AI, yet financial returns remain elusive: only 13% of logistics service providers and 7% of shippers report measurable impact from their investments, despite cost reduction driving most of that spending.
BCG's latest report finds the shortfall is structural, not a matter of time. Most AI tools are built to optimize a single company's own operations, and their precision is lost the moment output crosses into a partner's manual process. Southeast Asia is unusually well positioned to break this pattern: the region leads the world in logistics AI adoption, and its concentrated trade hubs, archipelagic geography, and SME-dominated market reward operators that publish machine-readable data for partners to build on.
The report outlines how ports, forwarders, carriers, and truckers can link improvements into a compounding chain– an opening that lets focused, mid-sized players outmaneuver larger, slower-moving rivals.
