Transport and customs: getting goods out and in on time, at the right cost and in compliance
The transport and customs manager chooses carriers, organises shipments, tracks deliveries and prepares customs formalities for both import and export. They juggle the TMS where there is one, each carrier’s portal, freight forwarders and a great many e-mails. Shipment tracking, freight invoice checking and gathering customs documents take up a large part of their time.
The role
Between the warehouse, customers, carriers and the customs authorities
The transport and customs manager negotiates with and manages carriers, organises collections with the warehouse, informs sales administration and customer service of delays and handles disputes. On the customs side, they make tariff classification, origin and value of goods reliable, prepare declaration data with the customs representative and keep the supporting documents. They also work with accounts payable on checking freight invoices and duties and taxes.
Day to day
A typical day.
- MorningCheck yesterday’s deliveries, delays and incidents reported by carriers.
- MorningAssign the day’s shipments to carriers and book collections according to the volumes picked.
- MiddayPrepare documents for export shipments and send declaration data to the customs representative.
- AfternoonTrack import arrivals (containers, customs clearance, release) and alert the warehouse to arrivals.
- Every weekHandle transport disputes (damage, shortages, delays) and chase open cases.
- Month endCheck freight invoices, analyse costs by flow and by carrier and track duties and taxes paid.
The objectives
What the role is measured on.
- On-time delivery rate
- Transport cost per shipment, per parcel or per pallet
- Transport dispute rate
- Variances between freight invoices and contract rates
- Import customs clearance time
- Compliance of customs declarations (classification, origin, value)
Indicators are named, never quantified: levels depend on each company, and the diagnostic measures them.
Day to day
The problems that come up most.
Tracking scattered across carriers
Each carrier has its own portal and statuses; finding out where a shipment stands means checking several websites.
Freight invoices poorly checked
Surcharges, chargeable weight, ancillary fees: invoices are hard to verify against rates, and variances often slip through.
Incomplete customs data
Tariff code, origin, value and weight are missing or differ between files; the customs representative asks for them again with every shipment.
Scattered documents
Commercial invoices, packing lists, certificates of origin, proofs of export: supporting documents are searched for in mailboxes when an audit comes.
Disputes that drag on
Reservations are not always made on delivery, and claims exceed the time limits set by contracts or regulations.
Carrier choice by habit
Shipments go with the usual carrier, without a systematic comparison of cost and lead time for each consignment.
By sector
One role, several realities.
- Retail
In retail, transport supplies stores through regular rounds and delivers e-commerce customers by parcel, with different carriers and pick-up points. Imports of goods sourced outside the European Union go through freight forwarders and containers to be tracked all the way to the warehouse.
- B2B distribution and wholesale
In B2B distribution and wholesale, transport combines parcel networks, pallets and chartering, with delivery appointments required by customers and EDI shipping notices. Carrier choice is made shipment by shipment, between cost and lead time.
- Construction and property
In construction, transport delivers materials and equipment to site on dates that follow progress, with access, unloading and convoy constraints for plant. Split deliveries and equipment returns are tracked site by site.
- Industry
In manufacturing, transport covers supplying the sites, flows between plants and exporting finished goods, often under different Incoterms depending on the customer. Customs weighs heavily: product classification, preferential origin, special procedures and export documents.
What changes
Automate the task, keep the judgement.
What gets automated
- Shipment tracking: statuses from all carriers flow into a single view, and delays are flagged before the customer chases.
- Choosing the carrier for each shipment, according to rates, lead time, destination and customer constraints, in the TMS or a tool connected to the WMS.
- Checking freight invoices: each line is recalculated against the contract rate and matched with the actual shipment.
- Preparing customs data: tariff code, origin, value and weight gathered from item records and invoices, and checked before being sent to the customs representative.
- Building the file for each international shipment: an AI agent reads and files invoices, packing lists, certificates and proofs of export.
What stays human
- Negotiating with and choosing carriers and customs representatives.
- Responsibility for customs declarations, signed and lodged by the authorised declarant.
- The decision on a dispute, a claim or an exceptional shipment.
Use cases
How to automate, case by case.
Each case starts from a question leadership teams ask. The starting point, what gets automated, the tools involved, and what stays in the teams’ hands.
How do you automate shipment tracking?
- Today
- To find out where a shipment stands, the team checks the carrier’s portal, tracking number by tracking number. Delays are discovered when the customer calls, and sales administration or customer service do not have the same information as transport.
- What gets automated
- Statuses from all carriers flow in automatically via API, EDI or by reading notification e-mails, into a single view by order and by customer. Shipments with no movement or behind the planned lead time are flagged, with the new likely date. The customer and customer service are informed at each important stage, and the proof of delivery is attached to the order in the ERP.
- What stays human
- The decision to reship, chase a carrier or personally warn an important customer stays with the transport manager.
- TMS
- Carrier portals
- ERP
- Messaging
How do you automate customs declarations?
- Today
- For each shipment outside the European Union, the team gathers the commercial invoice, the packing list, tariff codes, origin and value, then sends them to the customs representative, who re-keys the data into the single administrative document (SAD). Information is often missing and the back-and-forth delays departure.
- What gets automated
- Each shipment’s data is assembled automatically from the order, the invoice and the item records: tariff code, origin, value, weight, Incoterm, EORI number. A check verifies consistency between invoice, packing list and item data before sending to the customs representative, in a format they can integrate without re-keying. Declarations received in return are attached to the shipment.
- What stays human
- The declaration is lodged and signed by the company or its customs representative, who bear responsibility for it before the authorities.
- ERP
- WMS
- Customs representative’s clearance tool
- AI document-reading agent
How do you automate carrier selection for each shipment?
- Today
- Shipments go with each destination’s usual carrier, chosen by habit. Other carriers’ rates, customer constraints and lead times are not compared consignment by consignment.
- What gets automated
- For each shipment, the tool compares contracted carriers by weight, volume, destination, the lead time promised to the customer and their constraints (appointment, tail lift, time slot). It proposes the best choice according to the rules set by the company, books the collection and generates labels and documents.
- What stays human
- Selection rules and exceptions for a customer or a sensitive shipment are set by the transport manager.
- TMS
- WMS
- Carrier portals
How do you automate freight invoice checking?
- Today
- Carrier invoices mix base rate, fuel surcharges, chargeable weight, appointment or waiting fees. Checking is done by sampling, and variances from negotiated rates often slip through.
- What gets automated
- An AI agent reads each freight invoice and breaks it down line by line. The tool recalculates the expected amount from the actual shipment (weight, volume, destination) and the contract rate card, then flags variances. Compliant invoices go to approval; the others are documented for dispute.
- What stays human
- Disputing with the carrier stays with the transport manager, and payment with accounts payable.
- TMS
- ERP
- AI document-reading agent
- Business intelligence (BI) tool
How do you automate customs classification of products?
- Today
- Product tariff codes are assigned case by case, sometimes by the customs representative, sometimes by the team, with no shared reference. The same product can end up declared under different codes.
- What gets automated
- A customs reference for items is built in the ERP or the product master data. For each new item, an AI agent proposes a tariff code from the description, composition and uses, with its justification. Inconsistencies between similar items or between declarations are flagged.
- What stays human
- Approving the tariff classification, and requesting a binding tariff information ruling when in doubt, stay with the customs manager and their advisers.
- ERP
- Product master data
- AI classification agent
How do you automate transport dispute management?
- Today
- Damage, shortages, delays: the customer or the warehouse reports the problem by e-mail, and the team builds the case by hand, looking for the consignment note, photos and proof of delivery. Some cases exceed the claim deadlines.
- What gets automated
- Each reported incident creates a case linked to the shipment, with documents retrieved automatically (consignment note, proof of delivery, reservations, photos). An AI agent drafts the claim to the carrier according to the type of incident, and the tool tracks deadlines and chases until closure.
- What stays human
- The decision to compensate the customer, accept a carrier’s offer or take legal action stays with the transport manager.
- TMS
- ERP
- Messaging
- AI drafting agent
How do you automate the production of transport and export documents?
- Today
- Consignment notes, packing lists, pro forma invoices, accompanying documents: each one is produced by hand, often from a word-processing template, with a risk of errors on weights, quantities or addresses.
- What gets automated
- Documents are generated automatically from the order, the actual picking in the WMS and item data, according to the transport mode, destination and Incoterm. They are attached to the shipment, sent to the carrier and the customs representative, and archived by shipment.
- What stays human
- Checking sensitive shipments (dangerous goods, dual-use items, high value) stays with an authorised person.
- WMS
- TMS
- ERP
- Electronic document management
How do you automate carrier tenders and rate comparison?
- Today
- For a transport tender, the team sends a flow file to carriers, collects answers in different formats and compares them by hand. The selected rate cards are then re-keyed into the TMS.
- What gets automated
- Actual flows for the period are extracted automatically from the TMS and invoices: origins, destinations, weights, frequencies. Carriers’ answers are read, standardised and applied to these flows to compare the total cost of each offer. The selected rate cards are loaded into the TMS without re-keying.
- What stays human
- Choosing the carriers and negotiating terms stay with the transport manager, with purchasing.
- TMS
- Business intelligence (BI) tool
- AI document-reading agent
How do you automate import container tracking?
- Today
- Departure, port arrival and release dates for containers arrive by e-mail from the freight forwarder or the shipping line. Replenishment and the warehouse find out about changes late, and demurrage or detention charges can be added.
- What gets automated
- Container statuses flow in automatically from shipping lines’ portals and the forwarder’s e-mails, read by an AI agent. Each container is linked to the supplier orders it carries, and new dates are entered in the ERP. Delays and the risk of demurrage or detention charges are flagged, and the warehouse is alerted to the arrival.
- What stays human
- The choice to expedite clearance, reorganise a delivery or warn a customer stays with the transport manager and replenishment.
- Carrier portals
- ERP
- WMS
- AI document-reading agent
How do you automate proof of preferential origin for goods?
- Today
- To benefit from a reduced duty in a country that is party to a trade agreement, the company must prove the origin of its products. Suppliers’ declarations on the origin of their components are collected by e-mail, irregularly, and are rarely up to date.
- What gets automated
- The tool identifies products exported to agreement countries and the components whose origin must be proven. Supplier declarations are requested and chased automatically, read by an AI agent and attached to items, with their validity date. Products whose proof is incomplete are flagged before shipment.
- What stays human
- Determining origin under the agreement’s rules and the origin statement on documents remain the responsibility of the customs manager and their advisers.
- ERP
- Supplier portal
- AI document-reading agent
- Messaging
Questions from the teams
What teams look to improve.
- Do you need a TMS to automate transport?
- Not always. A TMS is justified when shipments are numerous and carriers many. Otherwise, a tool connected to the WMS and the carriers’ portals is enough to automate allocation, labels, tracking and invoice checking. The diagnostic shows which of the two fits.
- Can AI do customs declarations?
- It prepares and checks the data: proposed tariff code, origin, value, consistency with the invoice and the packing list. The declaration itself is lodged in the customs authority’s clearance system by the company or its customs representative, who bears responsibility for it.
- How do you choose the right Incoterm?
- The Incoterm sets who pays for transport, who bears the risk and who carries out customs formalities, at each stage. The choice depends on the company’s ability to organise transport and clearance in the country concerned. It is decided with sales and, if needed, customs advisers; automation then checks that each shipment complies with the order’s Incoterm.
- What is an EORI number and who needs one?
- The EORI number identifies an economic operator to the customs authorities of the European Union. Any company importing or exporting outside the Union needs one. It appears on declarations and must be entered correctly in the data sent to the customs representative.
- How do you reduce transport costs?
- By first knowing the real cost by flow, by carrier and by customer, from checked invoices. Then: choose the carrier shipment by shipment, consolidate consignments, optimise loading and renegotiate on measured volumes. Negotiation stays with the transport manager.
- How do you inform customers about their delivery automatically?
- The tracking number and shipping status go to the customer as soon as the goods are handed to the carrier, then at each important stage. If there is a delay, the customer is informed with a new likely date, and customer service sees the same information.
- Which supporting documents must be kept for customs?
- Declarations, invoices, proofs of export, proofs of origin and transport documents, for the period required by customs regulations. Archiving organised by shipment makes them easy to find during an audit; customs advisers specify the period applicable in each case.
- How do you track the carbon footprint of transport?
- From the actual data of each shipment: distance, weight, transport mode, and recognised emission factors. The tool calculates emissions by flow and by carrier; the method and scope chosen are approved with the person in charge of non-financial reporting.
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