Peter MacLeod talks with Transporeon boss Philipp Pfister about how its cloud-based transport management platform can help build resilience in supply chains.
In his opening keynote at the recent Transporeon Summit in Amsterdam, Trimble CEO Rob Painter quoted US General Shinseki saying: “If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” It served as an apt theme, coming at a time when AI is sweeping across all areas of our industry, with companies such as Transporeon keen to showcase why it is at the forefront of this change. Later that day, I sat down with Philipp Pfister, Sector Vice President at Transporeon, for an exclusive interview.
The event in the Dutch city brought together hundreds of logistics leaders to discuss digital transformation, collaboration, and the future of transport management under the magnificent roof of the city’s former stock exchange, the Beurs van Berlage. Alongside high-level presentations, Transporeon unveiled new enhancements to its transport management platform.
Pfister, who has been with Transporeon for 13 years, now leads the business within Trimble Transportation. “I joined when the company was around 200 people,” he recalls. “I started as a project manager, building customer solutions on our platform. Over the years I was trusted with more responsibility, leading teams in professional services, support, platform management and freight auditing. At the beginning of this year, following Transporeon’s integration into Trimble, I was asked to take over the whole organisation.”
Navigating Crisis
The logistics sector has been in near-permanent turbulence since 2020. Pfister is clear about Transporeon’s role in helping companies adapt. “Since Covid, we’re seeing multiple crises all the time – Covid itself, the war in Ukraine, capacity shortages, inflation, and now Germany’s recession. Our solutions help customers stabilise. We remove manual work, automate processes, share information, and foster collaboration. This enables teams to focus on what really matters in an ever-changing environment.”
Transporeon’s longevity and scale are central to that mission. “We have 25 years of history, the biggest network in Europe, and a customer base that is motivated to collaborate,” Pfister notes. “And with Trimble, we’re uniquely positioned not just in Europe but also expanding strongly in North America.”
One of the Summit’s recurring themes was openness. Pfister explains: “It’s about interoperability. Our platform lives with multiple partners, so we need easy connections and standardised data in the middle to enable smooth collaboration. We take an API-first approach – making it easy to connect – while still respecting data confidentiality. The goal is not to share everything with everyone, but to share with the right partners in the simplest way possible.”
This philosophy underpins the latest platform enhancements launched at the Summit. Highlights include advanced load planning, more efficient dock and yard management, and AI-driven optimisation, all designed to reduce empty miles, increase truck utilisation and cut emissions.
AI in Action
Pfister stresses that AI is no longer just in pilot mode for Transporeon. “What is definitely coming at full force is everything around our data insights and benchmarking tools. We have 110,000 transport slots transacted daily. That data fuels benchmarking, predictive analytics, and AI-driven decision support. Another area is autonomous quotation, bringing spot bidding into the AI era with machine learning and rule-based automation. This is being widely adopted globally.”
Yet AI adoption is not without challenges. “You need good data quality to train models,” he says. “Some companies are still working with ERP systems from 20 years ago. But that’s not a blocker – you can start small, with isolated use cases. The bigger challenge is change management. We can build great tools, but we must help people use them effectively. That’s why our Customer Experience team supports carriers and shippers throughout their digital journey.”
Decarbonisation & Security
The industry’s drive toward sustainability is another focus. “The carbon footprint of transport starts with utilisation,” Pfister argues. “If a truck carries 10 pallets instead of 30, energy is wasted. Our planning tools and procurement solutions help reduce empty mileage, consolidate loads, and cut waiting times at docks. The best reduction of emissions is when a transport can be avoided altogether.”
Cybersecurity, meanwhile, remains non-negotiable. “We deal with very sensitive data and must protect it at all costs. We’re ISO-certified, we run penetration tests, and we train staff against phishing. Security is everyone’s responsibility, not just the IT team.”
On the subject of talent, Pfister is optimistic. “We’re a logistics software company, so we hire both tech specialists and people from the industry. The younger workforce wants purpose. What we do – helping reduce costs, emissions and inefficiencies – has real impact. And we’re already seeing an ‘AI-native generation’ enter the workforce. They’ll supervise AI agents as colleagues in the same way today’s managers lead people.”
Competitive Edge
Asked to define Transporeon’s advantage, Pfister points to the power of the network. “We have the largest network and the highest data density in the market. We’re leading in AI capabilities and continuously growing with our customers. Many have been with us for decades and are still expanding their use of our platform. This shows that Transporeon is not just a tool but a long-term partner.”
With resilience, openness, and AI-driven efficiency at its core, Transporeon looks to me to be well positioned as a critical enabler for customers whose supply chains face constant disruption. In Pfister’s words, “Wherever the starting point of their journey is, we need to help them to get on this AI journey while the finishing line is constantly moving”.
