For freight forwarders
The bottleneck moved from the cab to the dispatch office
Transport and warehousing recorded 133 insolvencies per 10,000 companies in 2025, the highest rate of any sector (Destatis), at road-freight margins of mostly 1 to 3 percent (BAG market monitor). Everyone talks about missing drivers. But forwarding clerks are an official shortage occupation too, and apprenticeships fell almost 9 percent in 2024. The dispatch office holds the operation together, and it will not be reinforced from the job market. It is reinforced by ending the retyping.
30 minutes, no obligation. German or English.
133
insolvencies per 10,000 companies in transport and warehousing in 2025, the highest rate of any sector
Destatis, March 2026
70,000+
the driver gap in the associations' joint paper, with a structural deficit of roughly 15,000 a year
Eleven associations incl. BGL and DSLV, January 2026
Seit 2023
the year forwarding and logistics clerks became an official shortage occupation; apprenticeships fell almost 9 percent in 2024
Federal Employment Agency, BIBB
The gap
Your TMS is getting AI in 2026. The hours disappear in front of it.
Timocom shipped AI freight entry in December 2024, Transporeon followed in 2025 aiming at shippers and large carriers, and the classic SME transport-management systems are only catching up in 2026. The automatable layer sits between the inbox and the TMS: what arrives as email and PDF, what has to be matched, checked and filed. That is what we build, with human sign-off as the default.
Order capture from email and PDF
Transport orders arrive as attachments in twenty formats and get retyped. A capture system reads, structures and hands the order to your TMS as a proposal a dispatcher confirms. One forwarder handling around 350 orders a day reports about two thirds less capture effort in a vendor case study; a vendor number, to be labeled as such, but directionally plausible.
Document flow, billing-ready
Proof-of-delivery, consignment notes and customs papers are recognized, matched to the order and filed ready for invoicing. The same groundwork carries you into structured e-invoicing, which freight bills with their many surcharge lines will need from 2027/2028.
Waiting-time documentation
Detention claims often fail on evidence because ramps refuse to countersign and drivers keep paper logs. Timestamps from telematics and driver apps, bundled automatically into a protocol, turn the paper chase into a claim with a file behind it.
Freight-invoice checking
For the circulating error rates there is no serious source; for the error categories there is: outdated diesel floaters, wrong weight classes, flat-rate instead of per-kilometer tolls. A checking system reconciles invoice against agreement and puts deviations in front of a person.
Guardrails
Two limits belong in every conversation. Here is where we stand.
Automation in a forwarding business touches driver data and worker management, and any provider who does not open with that is a risk. Our position is simple: we automate the paperwork, not the scoring of people.
Driver GPS: with the works council, not around it
Covert or permanent GPS tracking has been struck down by a German court (VG Wiesbaden), and Austria's supreme court requires a works agreement or consent (OGH 9 ObA 120/19s). Telematics automation is built with the works council from day one.
The AI Act line we do not cross
Dispatching that assigns tours by individual driver behavior or scores 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 rather not. We build the paperwork side and stay off the scoring side, and customer-facing assistants disclose that they are machines from 2 August 2026.
eCMR and eFTI, without the sales pitch
The eCMR protocol has been in force for Germany since 2022 and for Austria since 2024, but 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 mandatory deadline is coming to force your hand. The advantage belongs to those who kill the paper flow out of self-interest.
E-invoicing, prepared instead of postponed
Freight invoices with their many surcharge lines must be issued in structured form from 2027/2028. An automated document flow is the groundwork for that; we build it so the deadline becomes a non-event.
How it starts
Same engagement, firm-specific scope
Intro call
Free
30 minutes on your firm's bottlenecks. About a third of these calls end with the advice that AI is not the right tool yet.
Process audit
from €2,500 · credited to the implementation
We map where the hours actually go, from intake to deadline board, and rank the use cases by payback. You get a shortlist with expected effort, not a slide deck.
Implementation
Fixed fee, named in your proposal
One process at a time, live in your daily business in 2 to 4 weeks, with your team trained and a sign-off step wherever client data leaves a draft.
Fair questions
What forwarders ask us first
Does 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 the existing team its hours back. At margins of 1 to 3 percent, every dispatcher hour that does not go into retyping is worth disproportionately much.
We run WinSped, CargoSoft or another TMS. Does this replace it?
No. Your TMS stays the system of record, and where your vendor ships AI order entry, we say so and use it. We automate the layer in front of and around the TMS: the inbox, the documents, the waiting-time records, the invoice check. Where interfaces exist, we use them.
Can we automate anything that touches driver data?
Yes, within clear lines. German case law has struck down covert and permanent GPS tracking, and Austria's supreme court requires a works agreement or consent. Waiting-time protocols and document flows can be built on that basis, together with the works council. We do not build driver scoring.
Should we wait until eCMR or eFTI becomes mandatory?
You would wait forever. eCMR is in force but voluntary; eFTI obliges authorities from July 2027, never companies. Per the EU Commission, paper is still involved in 99 percent of cross-border transports. The savings are available now, to whoever takes them.
What does it cost?
The audit starts at €2,500 and is credited in full against the implementation. Implementations are fixed-fee. For market context, we published what AI automation actually costs, with sources, on our blog. Read the article with all market prices.
Talk to us before the next order gets retyped
A 30-minute call is enough to tell whether your forwarding business has an automation case. If it does not, we say so.