Empty trucks, lost crores: How AI can cut India's logistics costs
· Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
In short
An IAS officer argues that India already has the digital rails — PM Gati Shakti, ULIP and dedicated freight corridors — but lacks the AI 'brain' that turns that data into routing, load-matching and demand-forecast decisions. He cites benchmarks such as Rotterdam's Pronto platform (20% lower waiting time), Qingdao's AI terminal (+9% throughput), Full Truck Alliance (empty trips down from 39% to 35%) and Singapore's TradeNet to show what is achievable, while noting that 28–43% of Indian truck trips run empty and small firms spend 17% of turnover on logistics. He proposes an open, shared freight intelligence layer, built on the UPI model, that even a three-truck owner can afford.
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Tags: logistics, freight, route optimization, forecasting, supply chain, automation