While enterprise shippers have significantly modernized their technology infrastructure, many continue to operate with processes built for a slower, more predictable shipping environment, according to The State of Enterprise Shipping 2026 from Reveel.
"The shipping industry has fundamentally changed in the face of carriers' increased use of accessorial charges that are introduced with little or no warning," says Jack McCrum, director of optimization and analytics at Reveel. "Technology investments are happening, but our research shows that shippers' operating models simply haven't kept pace. Organizations are still making shipping decisions on quarterly or yearly cycles, while carriers adjust pricing, rules, and coverage area strategies continuously. In order to manage these constant adjustments, companies need the ability to turn an abundance of shipping data into timely, actionable decisions."
Key takeaways:
· As predicted in last year's report (91% expected to expand the number of carriers they utilized), carrier diversification has become the norm, as organizations seek greater resilience and pricing leverage and carriers demonstrate an unprecedented willingness to walk away from business. In fact, this year's report found that more than half of shippers (56%) are currently managing 3 or more carriers and 22% manage six or more.
· This shift in strategy also introduced new operational complexity for shippers. 92% of finance teams do not have real-time access to shipping expenses.
· 56% of enterprise shippers now manage three or more parcel carriers, while nearly one in four manage six or more, reflecting a continued shift toward diversified carrier strategies.
· While every shipper is subject to today's frequent, year-round carrier rate and surcharge changes, 41% still review those changes only periodically or rarely.
· Drilling down further, only 13% benchmark carrier rates outside the annual General Rate Increase (GRI) and contracting cycle.
· 92% of finance teams lack real-time access to shipping cost data, limiting their ability to proactively manage transportation spend.
· 75% have standardized or automated carrier selection to help match the right package with the right service, but just 10% leverage dynamic, real-time optimization that adapts to changing market conditions.
· Three out of four organizations lack a cross-functional approach to shipping spend governance, despite shipping's growing impact on financial performance, customer satisfaction, and operational imperatives, such as the optimization of distribution networks.
· When asked what would create the greatest long-term value, shippers prioritized better execution over new capabilities. Faster issue identification (52%) and greater cost predictability (50%) ranked higher than delivery performance improvements, signaling a shift from reacting to operational outcomes toward gaining greater control over the decisions driving them.
· While most organizations have invested in analytics platforms, automation, and multi-carrier capabilities, many (41%) continue to rely on periodic reviews, historical reporting, and manual intervention to manage shipping decisions in a market that changes daily.
· A majority of shippers do not have regular insight into carrier performance. Some 86% of shippers make decisions without details about actual conditions. As a result of this passive, retroactive approach, most carrier service issues and exceptions are only considered long after they occur. And only 10% of shippers have the processes and tools in place to automatically recover credits when carriers fail to meet their own service-level guarantees. Three out of four organizations typically fail to secure credits before they expire.
