C.H. Robinson cuts ocean quote times from days to minutes with AI

C.H. Robinson's AI-powered pricing systems have already produced more than 80,000 freight quotations for over 3,600 customers, the company announced on October 26, 2026, cutting quote turnaround from days to roughly three minutes.

Quotations that once took up to one day for air freight and two to three days for ocean shipments can now be completed in approximately two to three minutes, according to the US-based forwarder. The announcement extends the company's Lean AI technology from trucking into ocean shipping, air freight and customs brokerage.

"As we've brought our AI playbook to global forwarding, the benefits keep compounding," said Mike Short, President of Global Forwarding at C.H. Robinson. Short said faster access to shipping information lets customers evaluate alternative routes, transport modes, schedules and pricing when disruptions or operational changes occur.

How do the AI agents actually work?

The new system deploys interconnected AI agents that evaluate shipment requirements, gather information from external sources and determine transport options. Unlike the company's trucking operations, where a single AI agent can manage several freight pricing activities, ocean quotations require multiple agents working in concert.

The complexity is structural: agents must identify suitable origin and destination ports, evaluate terminal charges, assess inland transportation options and determine shipping routes. The technology can also weigh alternative modes — road, rail and barge — alongside consolidation requirements for shipments moving through international supply chains.

Where has it rolled out so far?

The rollout has moved quickly since the first deployment. The AI quotation capability launched in 2025 for less-than-container-load (LCL) ocean shipments serving customers in the United States and Canada.

• Expanded to full-container-load (FCL) ocean freight and air cargo
• Now serving customers across Mexico, Europe, Latin America and Oceania
• Currently in pilot phase for customers in China
• Further deployment planned across Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and Africa in Q4 2026

What is happening with ocean booking automation?

C.H. Robinson receives ocean booking requests numbering in the thousands each week, and it has now built AI agents to process them. The booking technology launched in China in August 2026, with expansion across the rest of Asia planned for Q4 2026 and global availability targeted for the first quarter of 2027.

The agents incorporate customer-specific information, shipment requirements and operational preferences. Mike Neill, Chief Technology Officer, framed the shift against a decade of limited progress: the company had achieved only about 5% automation of ocean and air booking requests over roughly ten years using digital booking forms and customer data exchange systems.

Agentic AI, Neill said, offers an opportunity to automate more of these processes — particularly when shipment bookings originate from multiple suppliers rather than directly from customers. The company acknowledged that further development is required before every stage of the booking process can be automated.

What does AI mean for customs brokerage?

The third front is US import customs documentation. C.H. Robinson's customs operations handle more than four dozen document types originating from shippers, carriers and government agencies.

The automated system classifies incoming documents, associates them with individual shipments and extracts the relevant information. It also identifies missing documentation and initiates requests for required materials, with additional automation supporting the preparation of invoices and information packages once processes are completed.

The result: a 23% reduction in time spent on the affected customs processing activities, freeing customs brokers to concentrate on validation and regulatory compliance.

What comes next?

The company's broader Lean AI strategy draws on hundreds of proprietary AI agents developed since 2023, built by its internal engineering and data science teams. Human oversight remains part of the approach as C.H. Robinson continues developing AI-driven processes across its global logistics operations — with the global booking rollout in Q1 2027 the next milestone to watch.