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Freight agent

Shipping and customs documents

Every bill of lading, commercial invoice and packing list read into your transport system, checked against the booking, and the customs entry prepared for your broker to file.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
Let’s build your agent How it works
The review screen for Shipping and customs documents: four items, three done, and one (Value mismatch) waiting for the customs lead, who is asked: Invoice value is $4,200 more than the booking. Hold the entry?
How it works

Keyed the hour the documents land, and checked against the booking.

Here’s a typical run, step by step: what automation handles, what the agent does, and the calls that stay with your team.

The workflow for Shipping and customs documents, in 5 steps. It starts with “The paperwork lands” and ends with “An entry ready to file”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
Shipping and customs documentsA typical run
Starts withThe paperwork landsCrestline Tools sends the BOL, packing list and commercial invoice for SHP-7742, Busan to Long Beach.
The agent: Takes the parties, containers, cartons, weights and every invoice line off the BOL, packing list and commercial invoice.
Automation: Enters what it read against SHP-7742 in your transport system, so nobody retypes a single field.
~60h/mo

Step 1 of 5Read the documents

  • The agent

    Takes the parties, containers, cartons, weights and every invoice line off the BOL, packing list and commercial invoice.

    A packing list can be a scan, a spreadsheet or a table pasted into the body of an email.

  • Automation

    Enters what it read against SHP-7742 in your transport system, so nobody retypes a single field.

    The fields have been read. Entering them on SHP-7742 is a straight copy.

Reads
  • Shared inbox
  • Shipper portal
Writes
  • Transport system

~60 hours a month back

Automation: Checks cartons, weight and value on all three documents against the booking. The invoice comes in $4,200 above it.
~25h/mo

Step 2 of 5Tie to the booking

  • Automation

    Checks cartons, weight and value on all three documents against the booking. The invoice comes in $4,200 above it.

    Cartons, kilos and dollars either agree with the booking or they don’t. No reading between the lines.

Reads
  • Transport system
Writes
  • Transport system

~25 hours a month back

The agent: Pairs every invoice line with the tariff code on your product list and flags anything new for the broker to classify.
~30h/mo

Step 3 of 5Check the tariff lines

  • The agent

    Pairs every invoice line with the tariff code on your product list and flags anything new for the broker to classify.

    The shipper writes “socket set, chrome 40pc” and your list says “hand tools, sockets”. Same goods, different words.

Reads
  • Product list
Writes
  • Transport system

~30 hours a month back

Where teams differImporters with a tight product list rarely see a new code. Those buying from new suppliers see one most weeks.

IfYour team: Holds the entry and asks Crestline for a corrected invoice, or confirms the new value with the buyer and lets it through.
~8h/mo

Step 4 of 5Decide on the value

  • Your teamIf value is off the booking

    Holds the entry and asks Crestline for a corrected invoice, or confirms the new value with the buyer and lets it through.

    Declared value sets the duty, and a wrong one is the importer’s problem long after the goods have landed.

Reads
  • Transport system
Writes
  • Transport system

~8 hours a month back

Where teams differAny value gap holds the entry at some importers. Others let a few percent through when a price list changed mid-order.

Automation: Builds the entry from the checked shipment and sends it to your licensed broker to file, with the three documents attached.
~20h/mo

Step 5 of 5Prepare the entry

  • Automation

    Builds the entry from the checked shipment and sends it to your licensed broker to file, with the three documents attached.

    Every field on the entry now comes straight from a checked record. The broker still does the filing.

Reads
  • Transport system
Writes
  • Customs system

~20 hours a month back

Ends withAn entry ready to fileSHP-7742 is keyed in and checked, and the entry is with your broker to file, documents attached.
Total~143h/mo

What changes

Packing lists and invoices get keyed in the hour they land. Shipments where the documents and the booking disagree wait for your customs lead.

  • 3steps automated
  • 2steps for the agent
  • 1call kept with your team

Pick any step to see what happens there and why it sits in that lane.

What it could be worth

~143 hours a month back

$82,400 a year in time

For a forwarder handling about 600 import shipments a month, at $48 an hour. We work out yours from your own volumes before you sign.

Let’s build your agent
What we customize with you

One proven agent, plugged into how you work.

Every team does this job a little differently, so we set these five with the people who do it today. We’ve done this in dozens of businesses, so we know where teams usually differ and ask about those first.

The agent

Same for every client
  • Follows the same proven steps
  • A person on every exception
  • Every decision logged
  • Tested on your past work first
  • Never files a customs entry on its own

  1. Your systems

    Where the work comes in, and where the result goes.

    For this agentDocuments from email and your portal, keyed into your transport and customs systems.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentWhich documents each lane needs, and your product and tariff list.

  3. Your team

    Who signs off, and who covers when they’re away.

    For this agentThe customs lead for any mismatch, operations for missing documents.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentEmail to shippers and agents, and a morning list for your team.

  5. Your output

    What it hands back, in the format you already use.

    For this agentA complete shipment record, and an entry ready to file.

Carrier invoice audits and exception updates are their own agents in this catalog. Classification decisions and filing stay with your licensed customs broker.

What you get

The agent, and everything that keeps it working.

  • The agentRunning on your systems, under your rules.
  • The review screenWhere the exceptions land for your operations and customs team.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past shipments and their documents, run through it and checked against the number.
  • The runbookHow it works, what to check, and what to do if it stops.
  • 30 days of tuningAfter it goes live, through a full month of your real shipments and their documents.
The number we agree

Hours from documents arriving to shipment keyed in. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.

How we get there

Live in 3 to 6 weeks. About seven hours of your time.

We do the building. Your side: access, a month of past shipments and their documents, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and a month of past shipments and their documents.

  2. Weeks 1 to 2

    We connect your systems and set it up.

    You, 1 hour. Walk us through your rules.

  3. Weeks 2 to 4

    We test it on your past shipments and their documents.

    You, 1 hour. Review what it flagged.

  4. Weeks 3 to 6

    It runs beside your team, then goes live.

    You, 1¼ hours. Work from the review screen.

Then 30 days of tuning, with a short check-in each week, about two hours of yours. At day 30 we show you the number and hand everything over.

After it’s live

It keeps running whether or not we stay.

  • It runs in your accounts

    Your cloud, your systems, and an AI account in your name, billed by the provider at their rates.

  • Changes in the first 30 days are included

    A new rule, a changed limit, someone new signing off. That’s what tuning is for.

  • After that, your call

    Your team edits the rulebook, the care plan covers it, or a bigger change is quoted first.

Questions

About this agent.

What formats can it read?
Email bodies, PDFs, scans and spreadsheets, in the layouts your shippers and agents already send. A document it can’t read clearly goes to a person.
Does it classify goods for customs?
It checks each line against the tariff codes on your product list and flags anything new or different. Classification calls stay with your licensed broker.
Our process isn’t quite like this. Will it still work?
That’s the usual case. The job looks the same in most businesses, but the details never do. We map how your team does it today, then set the rules, systems and approvals to match. That’s what most of the 3 to 6 weeks are for.
How do we agree the number?
Together, before any work starts. For this agent it’s the hours from documents arriving to shipment keyed in. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.
What does it cost to run once it’s live?
Hosting and AI, paid straight to the providers, not through us. It usually runs 5x to 25x cheaper than doing the same work by hand, and we work out your figure from your real volumes before you sign.

Want shipping documents keyed in the hour they land?

Tell us how your team handles shipments and their documents today. We’ll show you this agent on examples like yours, and whether it fits the fixed price.

Let’s build your agentBack to Logistics
New to Switchboard Agents? How it works, what’s included, and what it costs.
  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
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Switchboard Agents$12,500 fixed · live in 3 to 6 weeks How it works Let’s build your agent