Geopolitical uncertainty and digitalisation will shape freight forwarding through 2026 more than any other forces, FIATA says. Its 2026 Market Report, drawn from 111 logistics professionals across 46 territories, puts those two pressures at the front of the queue.

The timing is not subtle. The federation released the report at its centenary World Congress in Milan, under the theme "Empowering Global Logistics," as disruption around the Strait of Hormuz forces shippers to redraw routing maps in real time. FIATA cited the chokepoint as evidence that critical trade routes can no longer be taken for granted.

What the Hormuz shock changes for forwarders

The job description, for a start. FIATA President Prof Dr Thomas Sim framed it plainly: "The findings highlight the importance of infrastructure, technology, regulatory efficiency and connectivity, while also showing how the priorities of the industry vary across FIATA's Regions."

Director General Dr Stéphane Graber sharpened the point: "Resilience requires more than additional capacity. It requires connected infrastructure, interoperable digital systems, effective regulation and stronger cooperation across the supply chain."

Translation for the rest of us: chartering more tonnage is the wrong reflex. Resilience, in FIATA's telling, is a system property — border procedures, data exchange, regulatory alignment — not a balance-sheet item.

What the survey actually says

The 46 territories span all four FIATA regions, which lifts the report above a Western Europe sample. Respondents named resilience, connectivity, regulatory efficiency and data-driven operations as the categories worth funding in the next planning cycle.

Trade corridor diversification is the operational headline. Forwarders told FIATA they want viable alternatives to single-route dependencies: multimodal options, regional and interregional links, and visibility across modes and borders. For shippers, that should mean a forwarder quoting Plan A, Plan B and Plan C as standard, not as a favour.

A centenary that doubles as a handover

The Milan congress is also FIATA's hundredth birthday. The federation is marking it with FIATA Forever: A Leadership Legacy, a book pulling together contributions from President Sim, all 16 living past presidents, Director General Graber, and 12 younger logistics professionals.

It's, in short, a deliberate hand-off. Past leaders write the institutional memory; the dozen young contributors write the future they intend to inherit. The book lands the same week as a report telling the same audience that the next disruption is a matter of when, not if.

What does this change for shippers and forwarders?

Expect forwarders to lean harder on alternative routing scenarios, multimodal pricing, and the data integration that makes them executable. Carriers concentrated on single corridors should brace for harder questions on redundancy. Anyone still treating the forwarder as a price-taker between truck and B/L is, per FIATA, a few years behind the curve.

The federation's own framing leaves little room for doubt. The era of the freight forwarder as transport coordinator is closing. The orchestrator role — stitching routes, modes, technologies and partners into something that bends rather than breaks — is the one FIATA is now training its second century around.

— Amara Osei