Dive Brief:
- C.H. Robinson Worldwide’s income from operations increased nearly 23% year over year in Q3 as it continues to integrate AI usage throughout its daily business, executives said on an Oct. 29 earnings release.
- Productivity gains from automating tasks has allowed the brokerage’s workforce to focus on higher-value work, including elevating customer and carrier experiences, President and CEO David Bozeman said on a call with analysts.
- “Our agentic supply chain solutions are enabling a new era of logistics, and we're leading the way for customers and carriers,” he said.
Dive Insight:
The freight brokerage has invested time and resources to boost technology usage into daily operations as a strategy to improve business efficiencies and lower costs. Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer Arun Rajan said on Thursday the company has experienced a 40% productivity increase since the end of 2022.
Task automation has led the company to reduce its headcount, which has contributed to lower operating expenses. C.H. Robinson’s average headcount at the end of Q3 was just under 13,000, down from slightly over 14,500 the same period last year, according to the company’s earnings release.
Despite a reduced workforce, automated processes have allowed major segments within the company’s North American Surface Transportation business to gain market share, NAST President Michael Castagnetto said on the call with analysts.
In a soft freight market, the NAST business reported a 2.5% YoY increase in LTL volume, while its truckload business reported a 3% YoY volume gain. Costagenetto credited the upticks to improvements in the brokerage’s growth areas, including retail, energy, automotive and health care.
“During the quarter, we delivered year-over-year volume growth in each of these verticals,” Costageneto said. He added that the introduction of value-added solutions, including the company’s drop trailer asset management system, are “designed to simplify complexity, reduce costs and deliver consistent, high-quality service across the supply chain.”
While the C.H. Robinson pointed to its efficiency and productivity gains from increased AI use, Bozeman said the company was not “immune to the market,” adding the company “was comfortable operating in an environment that is lower for longer.”
“We are not waiting for a market recovery to improve our financial results, and the strategies that our team is executing are built to be effective in any market environment,” Bozeman said.
