Will AI replace Cargo and Freight Agents?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
27/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 43% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 45% of the work
What the job involves
Expedite and route movement of incoming and outgoing cargo and freight shipments in airline, train, and trucking terminals and shipping docks. Take orders from customers and arrange pickup of freight and cargo for delivery to loading platform. Prepare and examine bills of lading to determine shipping charges and tariffs.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(9)
- Negotiate and arrange transport of goods with shipping or freight companies.
- Determine method of shipment and prepare bills of lading, invoices, and other shipping documents.
- Advise clients on transportation and payment methods.
- Keep records of all goods shipped, received, and stored.
- Notify consignees, passengers, or customers of freight or baggage arrival and arrange for delivery.
and 4 more
Out of reach(15)
- Track delivery progress of shipments.
- Estimate freight or postal rates and record shipment costs and weights.
- Retrieve stored items and trace lost shipments as necessary.
- Arrange insurance coverage for goods.
- Install straps, braces, and padding to loads to prevent shifting or damage during shipment.
and 10 more
Also called
Freight Broker · Cargo Agent · Freight Receiver · Freight Router · Transportation Broker · Load Planner · Cargo Router · Container Coordinator
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics