CH Robinson expands Lean AI across global forwarding

By Nathan Brooks

CH Robinson says its Lean AI pricing agents have generated more than 80,000 quotations for over 3,600 customers. The company says the workflow now takes two to three minutes for air cargo, down from one day, and for ocean shipments, down from two to three days.

The extension takes CH Robinson’s agentic tools beyond pricing and into ocean booking, international documentation and customs brokerage. Some complex shipping tasks require more than a dozen agents working together, with people retaining oversight and personal attention as the system handles quotations, requests and compliance paperwork.

How do the agents handle a shipment?

To price an ocean shipment, CH Robinson says multiple agents and subagents interpret customer requirements, collect information from outside parties, assess origin and destination variables and determine routing options. A Shanghai example requires the system to identify the port, account for transport distances and tolls, and price charges across 43 terminals.

Agents monitor terminal websites and email notifications for fee changes, reducing the need for employees in different time zones to contact terminals individually. When customers leave the port unspecified, they recommend routes using origin, destination and sailing frequency, assess truck, rail and barge options, and select consolidation centres where required.

What is operating, and what comes later?

CH Robinson first introduced the quotation technology in 2025 for less-than-container-load ocean freight in the US and Canada. It now handles full-container ocean freight and air cargo for customers in Mexico, Europe, Latin America and Oceania, while pilots run in China.

CH Robinson plans to deploy the quotation system in Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and Africa in the fourth quarter of 2026. Its ocean booking agents began in China in August. The company plans to expand those agents across Asia in the fourth quarter of 2026 and globally in the first quarter of 2027.

The booking agents incorporate each customer’s preferences, requirements and shipment procedures into requests. They also manage thousands of ocean booking requests every week, adding another layer to CH Robinson’s stated aim of faster, more consistent and more flexible supply-chain processes.

What changes at US Customs?

Customs agents support clearance documentation affected by changing trade agreements, tariffs and compliance requirements. Their systems handle more than four dozen document types from shippers, carriers and government agencies, classify each document, link it to the relevant shipment and extract information for review.

They also identify missing paperwork, request outstanding documents and generate invoices and information packets. CH Robinson says the automation has cut time spent on those tasks by 23%, although it has not put a dollar value on the saving. Brokers can now concentrate on validation and compliance.

Mike Short, president of Global Forwarding, said applying Lean AI helps customers “access information sooner, improve data consistency and make supply chain processes more predictable.” For time-sensitive medicines, perishable goods and automotive components, quicker quotations and bookings can help customers secure suitable carriers, sailing schedules and flights.

Across CH Robinson’s forwarding network, the intended consequence is earlier access to capacity: faster pricing and booking help customers secure suitable carriers, sailing schedules and flights. The company presents human oversight and personal attention as safeguards around accuracy and flexibility, rather than a replacement for brokers and forwarders.

How far has automation reached?

Mike Neill, chief technology officer, called agentic AI “a significant advance over earlier digital booking initiatives.” Those earlier initiatives achieved approximately 5% automation of ocean and air booking requests over about a decade. CH Robinson did not disclose an equivalent automation rate, completion rate or error rate for the new agents, leaving the comparison unverified.

Arun Rajan, chief strategy and innovation officer, said CH Robinson’s proprietary agents operate across 100 trillion data points and use a customer-specific context layer. A 450-person team of in-house software engineers and data scientists continues to develop the technology across trucking, fourth-party logistics and global forwarding.

As a global provider of Lean AI supply-chain solutions, CH Robinson serves 75,000 customers and 450,000 carriers and handles 37 million shipments worth $23 billion annually. Its portfolio spans truckload, less-than-truckload, ocean and air freight. CH Robinson says combining human expertise with Lean AI can make supply chains faster, more efficient and sustainable, and it also supports employee-focused community contributions.

The next test comes as China pilots and the planned fourth-quarter 2026 regional rollouts lead into global booking deployment in the first quarter of 2027, with quotation speed, booking accuracy and customs compliance under pressure from changing tariffs and trade rules.