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How AI Is Transforming Logistics Operations
Agentic AI Taking on Larger Workloads as Technology Improves
Key Takeaways:
- 3PLs are deploying agentic AI, with C.H. Robinson rolling out more than 30 autonomous agents to execute millions of freight tasks.
- Agentic AI is pushing automation past 90% for some brokers, cutting processes from hours or days to seconds amid tight margins.
- Providers such as DHL Supply Chain are expanding AI agents for calls and scheduling, shifting employees toward exception management and higher-value customer work.
Recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are beginning to reshape the way work is done in the freight transportation industry, and third-party logistics providers are at the forefront of this technology-driven transformation.
Top players in freight brokerage and contract logistics are actively harnessing agentic AI to automate processes and workflows, enable smarter and faster decision-making, and amplify the efficiency of their workforces.
C.H. Robinson, the industry’s largest freight broker, has built and deployed a bevy of more than 30 AI agents that perform millions of shipping tasks for the company.
Unlike earlier forms of AI that gather, analyze and generate information, these virtual agents act upon data autonomously to complete processes, such as delivering freight quotes and processing orders in a matter of seconds rather than hours or days.
“What agentic AI offers is very promising. We’re rewiring our business to take advantage of that,” , vice president of artificial intelligence and enterprise strategy at C.H. Robinson, said during a presentation earlier this year at SMC³’s JumpStart 2026 conference in Atlanta.
Utilizing earlier generations of AI, the company could reach 50%-60% automation rates before hitting limitations, but AI agents have raised that ceiling significantly.
“With agentic systems, we’ve routinely been able to break through the 90% automation level,” Albrecht said. “And that’s got our attention. That’s why we’re so focused on automating every tactical step we can [from] quote to cash.”
C.H. Robinson’s AI agents handle numerous steps involved in shipments, including pricing, planning, orders, appointments, freight matching, securing capacity, optimizing shipment consolidation and timing, freight tracking, predicting estimated arrival times, and handling documents and invoicing. Other examples include earlier identification of accessorial charges, accurate freight classification and tracking missed pickups.
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Freight Brokerage | Dedicated
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C.H. Robinson ranks No. 2 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest 3PLs in North America.
Contract logistics provider DHL Supply Chain has partnered with tech startup HappyRobot to implement AI agents that autonomously handle routine phone calls and emails, resulting in time savings and streamlined communications.
DHL has deployed these AI agents across various use cases, such as conducting follow-up calls with drivers and high-priority warehouse coordination.
During a recent panel discussion at the Manifest 2026 supply chain technology conference in Las Vegas, the company highlighted another application for agentic AI: appointment scheduling through voice agents.
Automating that process has alleviated a pain point for the company’s workers, said , vice president of integrated transportation at DHL Supply Chain.
“It was soul-crushing work,” she said. “Nobody wanted to make the phone calls. Nobody wanted to do this work. It just was not a value-added or rewarding part of their day.”
Now those workers can concentrate their efforts on more interesting and more valuable tasks, Miller added.
By automating the routine, these types of agentic AI deployments allow human workers to focus instead on managing the exceptions — the unexpected or unusual cases that deviate from standard workflows.
“We want to position humans as the guardians of exception,” said , HappyRobot’s co-founder and CEO.
HappyRobot’s agents automate interactions via phone, email, text, chatbots and other forms of messaging.
“They can plan, they can predict, and they can also raise their hand and ask for help … from humans when they don’t know how to solve the problem,” Palafox said.
Agentic AI will never be perfect from an operations perspective, but that shouldn’t hold companies back from investing in the technology, DHL’s Miller said.
“We’ll always have exceptions. Your data will always have pieces that you need to update,” she said. “Do not let that stop you from taking that first step, because the value you can see on the back end is well worth the work.”
DHL Supply Chain ranks No. 12 on the TT Top 100 list of 3PLs.
A New Era for AI-Aided Work
C.H. Robinson’s Albrecht said the latest advances in the field of AI represent a new technology megatrend that is redefining the way work is done across many industries, including logistics.
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C.H. Robinson's Albrecht at Jumpstart 2026 in Atlanta. (Seth Clevenger/ Transport Topics)
“We are going from something called computer-aided work, where software digitized a process but a person operated the software, to agentic AI, where AI does the work and decides the workflow,” he said. “We’re going from predetermined workflows in software to agentic AI that decides how to get work done.”
AI, an umbrella term for technology that mimics human behavior, has existed for many decades. Long before the recent waves of generative and agentic AI, businesses had been using machine learning to recognize patterns and improve processes, including enhanced forecasting and dynamic pricing engines.
A few years ago, the proliferation of generative AI, popularized by ChatGPT and other large language models, enabled companies to streamline work involving language, images and voice. But that, too, is a reactive tool that reinforced the existing computer-aided work megatrend, Albrecht said.
The real paradigm shift arrived more recently, with the rise of AI reasoning and agency, he said.
“The models learned how to think,” Albrecht said. “That’s a groundbreaking transformation because now they’re not reactive systems; they’re proactive. They can work like we do — go out, make a plan, think through things, and come to an answer and have agency to decide their workflow.”
Elevating the Human Workforce
As organizations incorporate AI agents into their business processes to handle low-level tactical work, the daily tasks performed by company employees will evolve to focus more on strategy, judgment and high-value tasks.
, DHL Supply Chain’s global head of AI, data and analytics, emphasized the difference between automating tasks and automating jobs.
“What we are doing is automating the manual, repetitive tasks in the job so that people can focus on more meaningful activities,” he said.
HappyRobot’s Palafox cited existing workflows where humans handle very basic transactional tasks, such as manual data entry and transferring numbers to a transportation management system.
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“Those are the places where humans really should be elevating themselves,” he said.
New human roles are beginning to emerge alongside agentic AI, including managers to oversee teams of AI agents.
“I think that’s going to be a new role,” Palafox said. “You’re going to orchestrate an AI workforce.”
DHL’s Miller predicted that the proliferation of technologies such as agentic AI will drive an exponential increase in the speed of supply chain processes.
“This is going to enable our supply chain, the data within our supply chain and the decision-making to move much faster than it does today,” she said.
At the same time, this AI-driven automation could free up employees to spend more time on customer interactions, which are “really meaningful to how we do business,” Miller added. “I genuinely hope that it will allow our people to focus on relationships with our customers.”
