Sector · Logistics & Transport
AI software for logistics & transport
Bonsai builds AI software that lets transport and logistics companies deliver more with the same team. From order intake through to invoicing, connected to your TMS, your on-board computer and the systems you already use.
What's at play in logistics & transport
Transport runs on thin margins and a great deal of manual work. Orders arrive as email, PDF or Excel and get typed into the TMS by hand, and CMRs and charter invoices are matched the same way. The margin evaporates in empty kilometres and any load factor below a hundred percent; across the EU, more than a fifth of trips run empty on average.
Your bottleneck is the planner, not the software. Experienced planners and drivers are hard to find; the average driver is well over 45, and more than thirty percent are over 55. The systems are all there (TMS, on-board computer, route optimisation), but they talk to each other badly, and that gap is exactly where the re-keying sits.
Meanwhile shipper demand is shifting. Supply-chain visibility, CO2 reporting per shipment and digital documents are turning into award criteria in tenders rather than a nice-to-have. If you can't pull that data out of your operation in structured form, you slowly price yourself out of the market, even with sharp rates.
Systems we know and connect to
Where it pinches
Orders are re-keyed
Orders in email, PDF and Excel are entered into the TMS by hand. It eats up quiet hours, breeds transcription errors, and nobody enjoys doing it.
Empty kilometres and load factor
Trips run below capacity and return freight slips by. With the truck levy from 1 July 2026, every empty kilometre literally costs you more.
Margin per trip is invisible
Incoming charter invoices, waiting hours and missed surcharges go unmatched against the trip, or get matched too late. The result lands as a surprise at the end of the quarter.
CO2 per shipment is missing
Shippers increasingly ask for CO2 data per shipment. It is already sitting in your on-board computer, but you can't get it out in structured form.
Where AI does help, and where it doesn't
What we build for this
Automate order intake
Incoming orders from email, PDF and Excel are read, validated and entered into the TMS. This is often the first gain you'll see, and the most visible.
Document and invoice processing
CMRs, PODs and charter invoices are read and matched to the trips actually run, and any discrepancies or missed surcharges are flagged.
Support planning
Suggestions for trip combinations and return freight that the planner can accept or adjust. Think of it as a co-pilot for your scarce planner, with the planner still in the seat.
CO2 and Scope 3 reporting
Worked out automatically from trip and telematics data using the GLEC framework, ready for the moment your shippers ask.
Where AI is not the answer
- AI won't drive the truck or fix the driver shortage. What it does is make the planner and driver you already have more productive.
- Fully autonomous dispatch doesn't work: operational transport is full of exceptions. Keeping a human in the loop is the right call here, and a deliberate one.
- We leave PTV and your TMS in place and lay a layer around them that gets the data flowing.
- Feed a model dirty data and you get unreliable results. Connect and clean up first, then forecast.
What we deploy for this
Bonsai AI Digital Twin
A single system for orders, planning, margins and invoicing, built on your operation and connected to the on-board computer and the wider chain.
View Bonsai AI Digital TwinBonsai AI Workers
Digital colleagues that enter orders, match CMRs and charter invoices, and flag discrepancies around the clock.
View Bonsai AI WorkersDottle
Document AI for orders, CMRs and PODs: read, validated and passed through to your TMS, priced per document.
View DottleYou can read how we approach it, from discovery through to an SLA, in how we work.
Questions about AI in logistics & transport
Does Bonsai connect to Portbase, Transics and PTV?+
Yes. We build integrations with the systems you already use, so your data stops living in separate islands.
Do you replace our TMS?+
Only when it genuinely pays off. Usually we lay an AI layer around your existing TMS to automate order intake, document processing and margin monitoring. We rebuild only in specific cases, for example when the old system can no longer be adapted.
Is this also worthwhile for a mid-sized fleet?+
The business case decides that, not the size of the fleet. What matters is the volume of repetitive work (orders, documents, invoices), which is what tells you whether automation pays off; we work that through with you up front.
Do I become the owner of the software?+
Yes. The software we build is yours, with no lock-in and a transparent price.
Do we need to do anything about the truck levy and eCMR?+
From 1 July 2026 the truck levy comes in and eCMR/eFTI becomes the norm. Both need your trip and document data in structured form, which is exactly what automation gives you.
Where do you start?+
Usually with order intake: re-keying orders is high-volume, repetitive and error-prone, so the time saving is immediate and easy to measure.
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