AI API Automates LTL Shipment Identification Without Tracking Numbers

Carrier Logistics and LSP44 have jointly developed an AI-powered API that solves a persistent inefficiency in LTL freight tracking: the inability to locate shipments when shippers lack valid PRO numbers. The API accepts alternative shipment details such as company names, delivery locations, descriptions, and approximate dates, then ranks potential matches using AI to account for discrepancies in transcribed information. This addresses a structural cost problem for carriers, who currently spend approximately $10 per shipment responding to failed tracking inquiries from automated systems and shippers.

The partnership tackles a gap in the emerging standardized visibility frameworks being developed by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association. While industry standards improve data format consistency, they do not solve the challenge of identifying correct shipments when tracking identifiers are missing or incorrect. The API operates at the query level, searching approximately one week of shipment records and using account-specific credentials to ensure data security and accuracy.

For supply chain professionals, this innovation represents a practical intervention in the visibility gap between shippers and carriers. The system is live and deployed, though the companies have not yet disclosed adoption metrics or quantified reductions in manual handling. The long-term impact will depend on API accuracy rates and whether requesting systems can integrate results seamlessly into their existing workflows without human intervention.