Logistics

Freight Quoting Agent

Estimates freight cost and load requirements before shipment booking.

Draft

Handles pre-shipment freight quote requests from sales, procurement, suppliers, and customer-facing teams. It turns item lists, quantities, delivery lanes, and master data into a load plan with weight, volume, loading meters, trailer or container needs, and an estimated freight cost from the configured carrier, TMS, or freight-rate source.

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Freight Quoting Agent sits before the operational freight booking flow. It is designed for teams that need a reliable freight estimate before a customer quote, supplier response, or project order is finalized. The agent reads quote requests, enriches them with product and packaging data from the ERP or item master, calculates how the goods are likely to fit, retrieves or estimates freight rates from the configured rate source, and prepares an approval-ready response. It does not replace shipment execution; live booking, tracking, ERP delivery-date updates, and emissions reporting remain the scope of Freight Agent.

KPI it moves

  • Decrease

    Freight quote turnaround time

    Cuts the time from a freight estimate request arriving to an approved quote going back to the requester.

  • Decrease

    Manual quote handling time

    Reduces manual item lookup, load arithmetic, freight portal entry, rate checks, and reply drafting.

  • Increase

    First-pass quote completeness

    More quote requests can be answered from the first inbound message because missing item, quantity, lane, or master-data inputs are identified immediately.

  • Increase

    Freight estimate accuracy

    Improves alignment between quoted freight estimates and actual freight costs by using master data, agreement data, and historical validation.

What it does

  • Parse freight quote requests

    Reads requests from email, Teams, forms, portals, or attached files and extracts item numbers, quantities, origins, destinations, requested delivery terms, and special handling notes.

  • Enrich shipment inputs from source systems

    Retrieves dimensions, weight, pallet quantities, packaging rules, and available item master data from the ERP, PIM, WMS, or other configured product-data source.

  • Calculate load requirements

    Calculates pallet needs, total weight, volume, loading meters, trailer or container count, and other shipment metrics needed for freight costing.

  • Produce a load-plan visual

    Creates a visual trailer, container, or pallet layout so logistics teams can sanity-check how the goods are expected to fit before a quote goes out.

  • Estimate freight cost

    Retrieves or estimates freight cost from the configured carrier API, TMS, rate card, freight portal, or historical freight-cost model for the relevant lane and load profile.

  • Draft the quote response

    Prepares a response with the calculated load metrics, estimated cost, assumptions, exceptions, and approval notes for the responsible logistics owner to review.

How it works

  1. Trigger 1

    Freight estimate requested

    A sales, procurement, supplier, or customer-facing team requests a freight estimate before confirming a customer quote, supplier response, project order, or inbound shipment.

  2. Trigger 2

    Quote request received through intake channel

    A request arrives through the configured channel, such as a shared inbox, individual inbox, Teams message, customer portal, supplier portal, or structured intake form.

  3. Step 1

    Extract quote inputs

    Reads the request and attachments, extracts items, quantities, origin and destination, delivery terms, requested date, and any special handling requirements. Missing inputs are captured as exceptions.

  4. Step 2

    Retrieve product and packaging data

    Looks up dimensions, weight, packaging rules, pallet quantities, and stackability data from the configured ERP, item master, PIM, or warehouse system.

  5. Step 3

    Build the load calculation

    Calculates total weight, volume, pallet count, loading meters, and trailer or container needs. Where stackability rules exist, the agent applies them to improve load accuracy.

  6. Step 4

    Generate the load-plan visual

    Creates a visual representation of how the goods would fit on the trailer, container, or pallets so logistics can review the assumptions before approval.

  7. Step 5

    Retrieve or estimate freight rate

    Uses the configured rate source — carrier API, TMS, freight portal, contract rate table, or historical rate model — to return an estimated freight cost for the lane and calculated load.

  8. Step 6

    Prepare approval-ready response

    Drafts a response with the load plan, estimated freight cost, assumptions, and any unresolved exceptions, then routes it to the human owner for approval before external use.

  9. Resolution

    Approved freight quote ready for use

    The requester receives an approved freight estimate with load metrics, cost estimate, visual load plan, assumptions, and exceptions. If the quote cannot be completed, the owner receives a clear summary of missing data, unsupported lanes, or decisions required.

Why it matters

  • Removes repetitive logistics admin

    Eliminates manual item lookup, pallet arithmetic, and re-keying of load details into freight portals.

  • Improves confidence before quoting

    Adds a packing visual so warehouse and logistics users can validate the load plan before sales or suppliers see the estimate.

  • Speeds up supplier and customer responses

    Reduces the delay between request and freight estimate, especially for procurement-side inbound requests that can currently take days.

What it needs

Product and packaging master data
Source for item dimensions, weight, pallet quantities, packaging rules, stackability, and other data required to calculate load requirements.
Freight quote intake channel
A defined intake surface such as shared inbox, Teams, customer portal, supplier portal, or structured form where quote requests arrive.
Freight rate source
Configured source for pricing, such as carrier APIs, TMS APIs, freight portals, contract rate tables, or historical freight-cost models.
Lane and carrier agreement data
Carrier agreements, supported lanes, service levels, surcharges, and rate rules needed to produce a reliable estimate.
Human approval owner
A logistics or warehouse owner reviews draft quotes, resolves missing data, and approves estimates before they are used externally.
Add-ons

  • Carrier and TMS rate integrations

    Connects to carrier APIs, TMS platforms, freight portals, or contract rate tables to retrieve current freight estimates for the calculated load.

  • Stackability-aware load planning

    Applies product-level stackability and handling rules so load plans can use trailer or container capacity more accurately.

  • Self-service quote intake

    Lets sales, procurement, suppliers, or customers submit structured quote requests directly instead of routing every request through logistics.

  • Carrier comparison

    Compares multiple carrier, lane, and service options in one view to support better quote decisions.

  • Historical freight validation

    Benchmarks estimated freight prices against past invoices and shipment history to improve trust and flag outliers.

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