For freight forwarders
AI automation for freight forwarders
Orders arrive by email and PDF and get retyped. We capture them automatically, prepare the invoice checks and pass the data to your transport management system. Your team checks unclear details.
30 minutes, no obligation. German or English. Clicking loads Cal.com (USA); the call runs on Google Meet. Prefer to write first? Ask by email. We send the draft data processing agreement and our terms on request.
- 133
- insolvencies per 10,000 companies in transport and warehousing in 2025, the highest rate of any sectorDestatis, March 2026
- 70,000+
- drivers missing, per the associations' joint paper, with a structural shortfall of roughly 15,000 a yearEleven associations incl. BGL and DSLV, January 2026
- Since 2023
- forwarding and logistics clerks have been an official shortage occupation; apprenticeships fell almost 9 percent in 2024Federal Employment Agency, BIBB
In short
The time goes into what happens before the TMS: emails and PDFs that someone has to match, check and file. That is what we automate. Your team checks and approves. The trial run starts at €2,500.Last updated:
The gap
Your TMS is getting AI in 2026. The hours are lost before it.
Timocom shipped AI freight entry in December 2024. Transporeon followed in 2025, aimed at shippers and large carriers. The classic SME transport-management systems only catch up in 2026. The time goes into what happens before the TMS: emails and PDFs that someone has to match, check and file. That is what we automate. Your team checks and approves.
Order capture from email and PDF
Transport orders arrive as attachments in twenty formats, and someone retypes them. The system reads each order and hands it to your TMS as a proposal. A dispatcher confirms it. In a vendor case study, a forwarder with around 350 orders a day reports about two thirds less capture effort. That is a vendor number, but the direction is plausible.
Documents, ready for billing
The system recognizes proofs of delivery, consignment notes and customs papers, matches them to the order and files them ready for invoicing. The same groundwork prepares you for structured e-invoicing, which German freight bills with their many surcharge lines will need from 2027/2028.
Waiting-time records
Detention claims often fail for lack of proof: ramps refuse to countersign, and drivers keep paper notes. The system bundles timestamps from telematics and the driver app into a protocol automatically. Instead of a paper chase, you have a claim with evidence behind it.
Freight-invoice checks
There is no serious source for the error rates that circulate. There is one for the error types: outdated diesel floaters, wrong weight classes, flat-rate instead of per-kilometer tolls. The system compares each invoice with the agreement and shows deviations to your team.
Guardrails
Two limits we raise in every conversation
Automation in a forwarding business touches driver data and staff management. A provider who does not raise that first is a risk. Our position is simple: we automate paperwork, not the rating of people.
- Driver GPS: with the works council, not around it
- A German court (VG Wiesbaden) has ruled against covert or permanent GPS tracking. Austria's supreme court requires a works agreement or consent (OGH 9 ObA 120/19s). We build telematics automation with the works council from day one.
- The AI Act line we do not cross
- Dispatching that assigns tours by individual driver behavior, or rates drivers, plausibly falls under the EU AI Act's high-risk category for worker management, with obligations from December 2027. Pure route and load optimization probably does not. We build the paperwork side and stay out of driver rating. Customer-facing assistants disclose that they are machines from 2 August 2026.
- eCMR and eFTI, without the sales pitch
- The eCMR protocol has applied in Germany since 2022 and in Austria since 2024. It stays voluntary and requires the parties' agreement. The eFTI regulation obliges authorities to accept electronic freight data from July 2027. It never obliges companies. No deadline will make the decision for you. The gain goes to those who drop paper because it pays off for them.
- E-invoicing, prepared instead of postponed
- In Germany, freight invoices with their many surcharge lines must be issued in structured form from 2027/2028. An automated document flow is the groundwork. We build it so the deadline causes no stress.
How it starts
Same steps, scoped to your business
Intro call
Free
30 minutes on where your business loses time. If AI is not the right tool, we tell you.
Trial run
from €2,500 · credited to the implementation
We map where the hours actually go and rank the tasks by payback. You get a short list with the expected effort, not a slide deck.
Implementation
Fixed fee, named in your proposal
We implement and test one workflow with your team, typically within two to four weeks once prerequisites are confirmed. We train your team, and your team checks and approves before customer data leaves a draft.
The implementation of one contained workflow costs about €3,000 to €5,000. Projects with several processes and systems cost more, and the fixed fee is in your proposal before work starts. Ongoing care starts at €250 per month per workflow. 30 min · remote · no obligation. And if AI isn't the right tool, we'll say so.
Fair questions
What forwarders ask us first
01Does this replace dispatchers?
No, and it could not. Forwarding and logistics clerks are an official shortage occupation, and apprenticeships fell almost 9 percent in 2024. Automation gives your existing team its hours back. At margins of 1 to 3 percent, every dispatcher hour not spent retyping is worth a great deal.
02We run WinSped, CargoSoft or another TMS. Does this replace it?
No. Your TMS stays the leading system. Where your vendor offers AI order entry, we tell you and use it. We automate the work before and around the TMS: inbox, documents, waiting-time records, invoice checks. Where interfaces exist, we use them. Whether your TMS has a suitable interface we check in writing beforehand: the name and version are enough, and the answer usually arrives within one working day.
03Can we automate anything that touches driver data?
Yes, within clear limits. German case law has struck down covert and permanent GPS tracking, and Austria's supreme court requires a works agreement or consent. On that basis we build waiting-time records and document flows, together with the works council. We do not build driver scoring.
04Should we wait until eCMR or eFTI becomes mandatory?
Then you would wait forever. eCMR applies but stays voluntary. eFTI obliges authorities from July 2027, never companies. According to the EU Commission, 99 percent of cross-border transports still involve paper. You can take the savings now.
05What does it cost?
The trial run starts at €2,500. If you go ahead, we credit it in full against the implementation. If we advise against automating in writing, we refund the fee. The implementation gets its own fixed-fee quote. On our blog we explain, with sources, what AI automation actually costs. The implementation of one contained workflow costs about €3,000 to €5,000. Projects with several processes and systems cost more, and the fixed fee is in your proposal before work starts. Ongoing care starts at €250 per month per workflow. Read the article with the cost examples. Calculate with your own numbers.
Robert Van YsendyckFounder & Managing Director
In 30 minutes we can tell whether automation pays off for your business. If it does not, we tell you.