DHL launches AI-backed global trade indicator

Global logistics company DHL has launched a new tool to indicate current and future development of global trade, the Global Trade Barometer.
The Barometer, developed in partnership with professional services company Accenture, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse logistics data to provide a forecast of future trade.
“DHL has both a deep understanding of the driving forces behind global data volumes and the industry expertise to analyse and interpret market data,” said Tim Scharwath, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding – Freight. “The DHL Global Trade Barometer shows impressively how digitalisation – with the use of Big Data and predictive analytics – opens up entirely new opportunities.”
The Barometer examines containerised ocean freight data for import and export of commodities that serve as the basis for further industrial production, for example brand labels for clothing, bumpers for cars and touchscreens for mobile phones. Through AI and other statistical analysis processes, the data is compressed to a single value for global trade, and one each for the seven countries examined, who make up more than 75 per cent of world trade.
Results for January 2018 suggest continued growth in global trade over the next three months.
“The insights from the DHL Global Trade Barometer will help DHL customers to optimise their business processes, for example providing guidance for investment and supply-chain decisions,” the company said in a statement. “DHL itself will leverage the indicator to fine-tune is own resource planning for its international logistics operations.”
The company added that it anticipates the tool will have high significance beyond logistics, due to its suitability for use by banks, associations and economic research institutes.
“In a world characterised by volatility and uncertainty, we are contributing to greater transparency and predictability – for the benefit of our customers, our business and society,” said Scharwath.