Logistics & Transportation
Carrier & Vendor Management
3 autonomous agents optimize carrier selection and negotiate contracts. 20% lower shipping costs.
Agentic AI Workflow
3 autonomous agents negotiate, onboard, and pay carriers for optimal freight rates
The Challenge
Shipping costs were rising and the company had no visibility into whether rates were competitive
A mid-size shipper spending $65M annually on freight was locked into contracts with 5 carriers negotiated years ago. No systematic rate comparison existed — logistics managers manually checked 2-3 carriers per shipment, missing better options.
Lane-level analysis was impossible with spreadsheet tools. The company couldn't identify which lanes were overpriced or where volume consolidation could unlock discounts. Contract renewals were based on the prior year's rates plus a 3-5% increase, without market benchmarking.
The company needed automated rate shopping, lane analysis, and data-driven contract negotiation.
The Solution
Agents that shop rates, analyze lanes, and benchmark contracts for optimal carrier mix
Vijan.AI deployed 3 agents. The Rate Shopper queries 50+ carrier APIs for every shipment, selecting the optimal carrier based on cost, transit time, and reliability for each lane. The Lane Analyzer identifies volume consolidation opportunities, mode-shift savings (LTL to FTL), and underperforming carrier-lane combinations. The Contract Negotiator benchmarks current rates against market data and historical trends, generating negotiation recommendations with specific savings targets per lane.
Autonomous Agents
How each agent reasons, decides, and acts
Step 1 · Partnership
Carrier Partnership Agent
Carrier Sourcing & Performance Scoring
Evaluates carrier networks for coverage, capacity, and reliability using historical on-time rates and damage claims, autonomously onboarding top performers and retiring underperformers.
Input
Lane requirements, carrier coverage maps, performance KPIs, damage rates
Output
Qualified carrier list, onboarding workflows, partnership recommendations
- Calls carrier database to retrieve coverage, equipment types, and certifications
- Calls performance API for on-time delivery rates, claims, and service quality
- Autonomous decision: invite high-scoring carriers, flag poor performers for review
- Routes qualified carriers to Negotiation agent for rate discussions
Step 2 · Negotiation
Contract Negotiation Agent
Dynamic Rate Negotiation & Contract Generation
Analyzes market rates and historical spend to autonomously propose freight rates, negotiate contract terms, and generate digital carrier agreements aligned with budget targets.
Input
Qualified carriers, lane volumes, market benchmarks, budget constraints
Output
Negotiated rates, signed contracts, rate cards, tier structures
- Calls freight rate engine to benchmark spot vs. contract pricing by lane
- Calls contract generation tool to produce templated agreements with negotiated terms
- Autonomous decision: accept, counter-offer, or escalate based on threshold rules
- Routes finalized contracts to Payment agent for invoice reconciliation setup
Step 3 · Payment
Carrier Payment Agent
Automated Invoice Audit & Payment
Reconciles carrier invoices against contracted rates and shipment data, autonomously approving payments, flagging discrepancies, and remitting funds via ACH to ensure timely settlement.
Input
Carrier invoices, contracted rates, shipment BOLs, accessorial logs
Output
Payment approvals, dispute notices, ACH transfers, reconciliation reports
- Calls invoice API to ingest carrier bills and extract line-item charges
- Calls payment gateway to execute ACH transfers for approved invoices
- Autonomous decision: auto-pay matches, hold for review, or initiate dispute
- Routes payment confirmations and dispute logs to finance and carrier portals
Results
Measurable impact within 90 days of deployment
Lower Shipping Costs
Annual freight spend reduced from $65M to $52M through optimized carrier selection and contract renegotiation.
Annual Savings
Savings from rate optimization, lane consolidation, and data-driven contract negotiations.
Carriers Compared
Every shipment automatically quoted across 50+ carriers. Best option selected in seconds vs. hours of manual work.
Better Transit Times
Average transit times improved 15% by selecting carriers with best reliability per lane, not just lowest cost.
Implementation
From pilot to production in 12 weeks
Agent Design & Tool Integration
Defined agent capabilities, connected ML model, rules engine, graph DB, and chargeback API tools. Configured orchestrator routing logic.
Shadow Mode & Autonomous Tuning
Agents ran in shadow mode on 10% of transactions. Tuned decision thresholds, tool call parameters, and feedback loop retraining frequency.
Full Autonomous Deployment
Production rollout across all channels. Agents operating fully autonomously with human-in-the-loop for critical escalations only.
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