Logistics / Third-party logistics
C.H. Robinson: Determining the freight class and code for less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping requests received by email
- Company
- C.H. Robinson
- Country
- United States
- Adoption stage
- In operation
- Source published
- Date basis
- The date the source was published. It can differ from the date adoption started.
- How the source was checked
- Read the full source text
The work problem
According to a press release C.H. Robinson issued on June 19, 2025, less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping, in which freight from different shippers shares a truck, is priced using the classes and codes of the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) system, and at the time of the release that system was due for a major change starting July 19. Shipping requests that shippers send by email often had a missing or incorrect class and code, and manually looking up or confirming them could take a person 10 minutes or more per shipment.
Technology and data
C.H. Robinson built an AI agent that determines the correct class and code for a shipment and assists another of its AI agents in turning an emailed tender into an accurate order in its system. For freight it is reasoning through for the first time, the agent chooses a classification in about 10 seconds, and after more training on that type of freight from LTL experts it takes 3 seconds; it can handle hundreds of shipments at once. The company prepared the agent to apply the new classes and codes from the day the new system took effect, and employees spend more time helping customers manage disruptions and supply chain operations.
Results
According to the release, in its first few months the agent determined the freight class and code for about 2,000 orders a day, and Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Arun Rajan said this was saving over 300 hours a day. Greg West, Vice President for LTL, said that before generative AI half of the company's LTL orders were automated, and that since the agent began helping with emailed requests over 75% of all its LTL orders are automated.
Limits and open questions
The release does not disclose the accuracy of the classifications the agent made or how the 300 hours were calculated.
Sources
Compiled from public sources. These are not results from ATF Works customers.