CargoMetrics Technologies founder Scott Borgerson may be a technologist, but he shares a typical shipping-industry passion for the business.

“It’s a game for us, where the computer finds the statistically best move to make,” he said of his company’s data collection and analytics operations. “And it’s working!”

But he is not naive about the limitations of computing power, the complexities of shipping, or the inherent power of the industry’s network of people and companies.