C.H. Robinson has developed new technology that creates a major efficiency in freight shipping: removing the work of scheduling an appointment at the place a load needs to be picked up and scheduling another appointment where the load needs to be delivered. Across the U.S. trucking industry, more than 1 billion of these appointments are made each year, commonly through phone calls and emails. With touchless appointments, the entire process is automated and can be done 24/7 with no manual intervention.

The technology also uses artificial intelligence to determine the optimal appointment - based on transit-time data from C.H. Robinson's millions of shipments across 300,000 shipping lanes, facility data such as peak dwell time, and the most convenient time windows for carriers. When C.H. Robinson first tackled this challenge, the company's research showed that 74% of shippers wanted greater automation in their supply chains. In a 2024 C.H. Robinson customer survey, shippers indicate that more-efficient appointment scheduling is their second-biggest tech priority for supply chains this year.

This tech advancement is Saving shippers time: Instead of spending all day juggling incoming appointment requests, shippers enjoy touchless appointments completed in less than 2 minutes with zero time spent. Getting shippers' freight on the road faster: Touchless appointments allow C.H. Robinson to offer a customer's load to its carrier network faster, giving carriers better access to freight while securing better rates for the shipper. For customers with comparable freight, the average gain in speed-to-market is 7.4 hours.

Saving shippers money: The faster a load is offered and booked, the more likely the shipper can avoid paying a premium for a carrier to drive out of their way. Data-informed appointments also help eliminate the chargebacks and fines shippers face from their customers because of freight arriving too early, freight arriving too late or appointments being rescheduled at the last minute - which can add up to more than the cost of the transportation itself.