AI exposure: Freight Forwarders
Research rates, routings, or modes of transport for shipment of products. Maintain awareness of regulations affecting the international movement of cargo. Make arrangements for additional services, such as storage or inland transportation.
Reading this score
computedFreight Forwarders sits in the top 4% of every occupation measured. 62.3% of what this job consists of, weighted by how important each task is to the role, is work current AI systems can produce with little standing in the way. Very few occupations score this high. The ones that do tend to share a trait: the output is a document, a calculation or a message, and nobody has to be in a particular room for it to count.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 31 tasks it averages 1.68 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Calculate weight, volume, or cost of goods to be moved, at 93.3%. The least is Negotiate shipping rates with freight carriers, at 23.3%. A gap of 70.0% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within office and administrative support occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 51 roles in the group is 54.6%, and only 10 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 31 tasks, 30 are currently banded exposed, 1 assisted and 0 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take systems being given deeper access to the organisation's own records and history, which is already happening. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
31 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calculate weight, volume, or cost of goods to be moved. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 4.38 | exposed |
| Refer exporters to experts in areas such as trade financing, international marketing, government export requirements, international banking, or marine insurance. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.45 | exposed |
| Arrange for special transport of sensitive cargoes, such as livestock, food, or medical supplies. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.53 | exposed |
| Select shipment routes, based on nature of goods shipped, transit times, or security needs. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.39 | exposed |
| Arrange delivery or storage of goods at destinations. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.37 | exposed |
| Arrange for transport, using a variety of modes, such as rail, short sea shipping, air, or roadways, to minimize carbon emissions or other environmental impacts. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.36 | exposed |
| Determine efficient and cost-effective methods of moving goods from one location to another. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.33 | exposed |
| Monitor or record locations of goods in transit. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.29 | exposed |
| Keep records of goods dispatched or received. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.28 | exposed |
| Verify proper packaging and labeling of exported goods. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.09 | exposed |
| Verify adherence of documentation to customs, insurance, or regulatory requirements. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Recommend or arrange appropriate merchandise packing methods, according to climate, terrain, weight, nature of goods, or costs. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.45 | exposed |
| Recommend shipping solutions to minimize cost or environmental impacts. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.34 | exposed |
| Review the environmental records of freight carriers to inform shipping decisions. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.21 | exposed |
| Analyze shipping routes to determine how to minimize environmental impact. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.20 | exposed |
| Consider environmental sustainability factors when determining merchandise packing methods. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.11 | exposed |
| Complete customs paperwork. | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | 4.47 | exposed |
| Make arrangements with customs brokers to facilitate the passage of goods through customs. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.37 | exposed |
| Arrange for applicable duties, taxes, or paperwork for customs clearance. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.52 | exposed |
| Inform clients of factors such as shipping options, timelines, transfers, or regulations affecting shipments. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.52 | exposed |
| Prepare shipping documentation, such as bills of lading, packing lists, dock receipts, or certificates of origin. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.51 | exposed |
| Prepare invoices or cost quotations for freight transportation. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.42 | exposed |
| Reserve necessary space on ships, aircraft, trains, or trucks. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.26 | exposed |
| Obtain or arrange cargo insurance. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.23 | exposed |
| Consolidate loads with a common destination to reduce costs to individual shippers. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.17 | exposed |
| Provide detailed port information to importers or exporters. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.13 | exposed |
| Provide shipment status notification to exporters, consignees, or insurers. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.11 | exposed |
| Pay or arrange for payment of freight or insurance fees or other charges. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.32 | exposed |
| Assist clients in obtaining insurance reimbursements. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 3.70 | exposed |
| Maintain current knowledge of relevant legislation, political situations, or other factors that could affect freight shipping. | 33.3% | 16.7% | 50.0% | 3.94 | exposed |
| Negotiate shipping rates with freight carriers. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.63 | assisted |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 3.48 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.23 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.42 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.90 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.68 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.19 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.