Echo Global Logistics leverages AI and strategic acquisitions to enhance resilience in complex supply chains

Echo Global Logistics is reshaping modern freight with strategic acquisitions, AI-driven efficiency, and customer-focused innovation, setting a new standard in supply chain resilience amid increasing complexity.

Complexity has become the defining condition of modern freight, forcing shippers and logistics providers to design networks that can absorb shocks and adapt quickly. At the F3: Future of Freight Festival, Christopher Clemmensen, executive vice president of marke...

ting at Echo Global Logistics, and Brad Guinane, chief revenue officer at SONAR, discussed how closer integration of data, technology and service is reshaping resilience in supply chains.

Echo’s trajectory over two decades illustrates that shift. The company has expanded from a small start-up into a multibillion-dollar operator through organic growth and acquisitions, and it is increasingly positioning itself as a strategic partner rather than a simple carrier intermediary. Clemmensen said the firm’s return to private ownership under The Jordan Company has allowed it to take “a long term strategic perspective” rather than being pushed by quarterly public-market pressures. “When we were public, we were very driven by quarterly analyst meetings,” he said.

That longer horizon has translated into heavier investment in technology and targeted capability-building. Echo reports annual technology spend in the tens of millions of dollars and highlights AI as a tool to remove administrative burden rather than replace human judgement. The company described a dual approach: identifying top-line operational inefficiencies addressable with automation, and encouraging frontline employees to flag routine tasks that technology could streamline. “It takes some of the routine time sink out of their day so they can be more strategic and come alongside their shippers and carriers and be more productive,” Clemmensen said.

Customer feedback has been central to Echo’s product development. “For the time that I’ve been there, we have done shipper (client) satisfaction surveys every year, as well as carrier satisfaction surveys. We get thousands of responses to these. We also do pulse surveys throughout the year. So we want to understand what’s important to our shippers, and what’s important to our carriers. What are those unmet needs?” Clemmensen said, describing how that data drives new service lines and investments.

Those investments include growth in temperature-controlled warehousing and cross-border services. Echo’s acquisition of Roadtex brought refrigerated, food-grade facilities and a network that the company says now comprises more than 30 locations and over 3 million square feet of temperature-controlled space. Roadtex also expanded its footprint in 2025 with new facilities near Greenville, South Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee, according to the company.

Echo has likewise beefed up capabilities for U.S.–Mexico trade. The company opened a cross-border office in Monterrey in September 2025 and established a headquarters in Mexico City to better manage customs brokerage, transloading and warehousing, the company said. Those moves reflect broader customer demand for seamless end-to-end flows across borders.

The firm is continuing to pursue acquisitions to broaden its service set. In August 2025 Echo announced the purchase of FreightSaver, a California-based third-party logistics provider focused on full truckload, LTL, expedited and managed-transportation offerings. More recently, in January 2026 Echo signed a definitive agreement to buy ITS Logistics, a Reno, Nevada-based 3PL whose services include trailer pool programmes, dedicated capacity, intermodal and drayage, omnichannel fulfilment and sustainability-focused transport solutions; the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026 and would lift pro forma 2025 revenue to roughly $5.4 billion, the company said.

Those additions underpin Echo’s claim that it can help customers pivot during disruptions such as tariff changes, port congestion, strikes or severe weather. The company combines route and capacity analytics with consulting services to advise clients on long-term choices such as warehouse siting, arguing this produces both resilience and cost efficiency. One operational innovation aimed at reducing waste and emissions grew from a client problem: Echo used Roadtex’s presence in multiple retailer distribution centres to consolidate shipments from several manufacturers into a single delivery. “Every day we can go into these 40+ DCs with a truck that has products from five different shipper customers of ours,” Clemmensen said, noting the move cuts local truck traffic and idling at retailer docks.

Industry recognition has followed Echo’s technology and growth focus. FreightWaves included the company on its FreightTech 25 list for 2026, marking consecutive annual recognition for Echo’s technology initiatives, and Echo celebrated its 20th anniversary in July 2025, saying it has moved millions of loads and services a large base of shippers.

Despite the upbeat expansion narrative, Echo frames these developments as responses to customer needs more than ends in themselves. The company emphasises tools that enable employees and account teams to hold higher-value conversations with shippers and carriers, and it stresses sustainability as an increasingly board-level concern for customers. Echo said it is continuing to invest in training and technology while evaluating further deals that would expand managed-transport and fulfilment capabilities.

As carriers, shippers and technology providers confront persistent uncertainty, Echo’s approach, mixing capital, targeted acquisitions, customer feedback and pragmatic AI applications, illustrates one model for turning complexity into a source of competitive advantage.

Source: Noah Wire Services