Practical guides on logistics documents, customs, TMS selection, and AI automation — plus a glossary of terms that come up every day in the back office. Factual, no sales pitches.
The basics: who does what in a freight forwarder, the difference between forwarder and customs broker, and how Incoterms actually split cost, risk and customs responsibility.
Complete introduction: role, responsibilities, sea vs air vs road, documentation, INCOTERMS, and how modern forwarders operate.
Role, services offered, legal status (NVOCC, FIATA, FENEX), how to choose one, and how forwarders differ from customs brokers, 3PLs and carriers.
All 11 rules in one table, what changed from Incoterms 2010, FOB vs FCA for containers, DDP risk, and the forwarder's operational angle.
The two documents every forwarder handles daily — the Bill of Lading for sea and the CMR waybill for road. Legal basis, mandatory fields, e-versions, and automated processing.
The three functions of a B/L, types (Master, House, Straight, Order, Sea Waybill), mandatory fields, eBL, and AI-driven extraction.
Everything about the CMR Waybill: legal basis, required fields, liability, electronic CMR (e-CMR), and automated processing.
How AI layers on top of existing TMS and customs systems, why OCR underperformed for 5 years, what AI changes for the customs broker role, and AI-assisted HS-code classification.
How AI assists with the 6-digit HS system and national 8/10-digit extensions, where it works, where it breaks, and how to evaluate AI-assisted classification on your own product catalogue.
How AI agents layer on top of existing TMS systems (CargoWise, Descartes, Softpak) to automate document processing, without TMS migration.
Why OCR kept failing 2018–2022, what changed with vision-LLMs, how to evaluate AI vs OCR vendors on your own B/Ls and CMRs.
What AI actually does in customs workflows: HS classification, sanctions screening, declaration drafting. How it fits alongside Softpak, AEB and Descartes.
Honest, side-by-side comparisons of Logentic against other AI vendors targeting freight forwarders and customs brokers. Features, scope, integrations, pricing model, and a decision matrix per use case.
Raft's enterprise scale (5M shipments/yr) next to Logentic's mid-market speed and Dutch customs depth. By FTE size, geography and existing TMS.
Sedna's email AI for maritime brokers next to Logentic's full back-office automation. Features, NL customs depth, integrations and pricing model compared.
Wisor.ai's quoting focus next to Logentic's email-to-TMS automation. Scope, integrations, NL customs depth, and pricing per use case.
Digicust's HS-code and declaration AI next to Logentic's broader scope. Features, integrations (Portbase, AGS, DMS) and pricing model for NL customs brokers.
Freightmate.ai's US-oriented booking flow next to Logentic's NL/EU focus. Integrations (CargoWise, Portbase) and pricing per geography and use case.
Virtualworkforce.ai as a generic email assistant next to Logentic's logistics-specific AI layer. Scope, integrations, document extraction and pricing model.
How freight forwarder operations and AI-adoption patterns differ across European sub-regions. Ports, customs systems, regulatory specifics and where Logentic fits per region.
Rotterdam, Antwerp, Luxembourg cargo. Portbase (NL) vs PLDA (BE), FENEX and FEBETRA, and why AI adoption patterns here differ from UK/DACH.
Valencia, Barcelona, Bilbao, Lisbon, Leixões. Spanish DUA customs, Portuguese JUP, and how Iberian forwarders differ from UK/Benelux.
DE/AT/CH landscape. Hamburg, Bremen, German ATLAS customs, Swiss e-dec, Austrian e-zoll, and how a Rotterdam-anchored AI layer fits DACH workflows.
Piraeus (COSCO), Constanta, Istanbul transit. Greek/Cypriot/Bulgarian/Romanian/Turkish operations and how Logentic complements SE-Europe forwarding.
Field research across European and US forwarders on AI adoption, automation rates, and the mid-market gap.
Short definitions, each linked to the full explainer. Alphabetical.
More guides coming: CBAM reporting for forwarders, DMS transition, and AEO audit readiness.
Want a specific guide first? Let us know.
Logentic reads booking emails, extracts data from B/Ls and CMRs, and writes into your existing TMS — without migration. Live in 4–6 weeks.