Customs broker software that chases every missing document
File where you file today. FreighAI takes over the email around it: collecting the documents, answering the queries and chasing what is late.
Every email your company receives is read, understood and turned into a task for the right person, with the answer already drafted. Your team approves. Nobody lives in the inbox any more.
The first workflow here is the document pack, scoped with your team.
need DHL quote Gurugram → Ajman, 72kg, by Friday. express.
packing list attached. urgent pls 🙏
Pls quote for shipment as below. Confirmed pkg dims attached, IEC docs to follow…
- 01FreighAI does not file declarations and does not look up HS codes or duty. That work stays in your filing system, with the people licensed to do it.
- 02What it takes over is the email around the filing: the document request, the reminder, the query and the invoice chaser.
- 03Every document that arrives is read and put against the right entry. What is missing is asked for and chased on the same thread.
- 04Your team approves. They do not compose, forward, file or chase. The reply goes out in their name.
- 05Discovery decides which mailboxes and documents FreighAI may read, and what your filing team still keys in.
The declaration is the short part of the job
An entry is quick to file once you hold everything it needs. Holding everything is the job. The instruction arrives as an email with attachments. A commercial invoice. A packing list. A bill of lading or an airway bill. A licence or a certificate of origin, depending on what is in the box. Half of it is a photograph of a printout. Something is always missing.
So a clearing desk runs on chasing. Your coordinator writes to the importer’s shipping clerk, who forwards it to somebody in purchasing. Two days later a scan arrives with the licence number cut off at the edge. Meanwhile the vessel is on the water and the cut-off is not yours to move.
That is not an administrative inconvenience. Under the United States “10+2” rule, CBP is explicit that the filing party, or its agent, must obtain the information and provide it to CBP, down to the name and address of every supplier of the finished goods. CBP says failure to comply could result in monetary penalties, increased inspections and delay of cargo. The information belongs to your customer. The consequence lands on you.
The filing platform itself is fixed and national, and it is no place for a software vendor to insert itself. HMRC runs the Customs Declaration Service, and every business has had to declare through it since 30 March 2024. Dubai Customs runs Mirsal 2. In India, supporting documents go up through eSANCHIT on ICEGATE, where only a registered user may upload, only a PDF is accepted, and a batch is capped at five documents for most filers, ten for participating government agency filings. That is the easy part. The work is holding the right five.
The pack is only the first loop. Then come the queries. What duty will this attract. Can it go under the same classification as the last one. Then the status question, every day, from the importer and from the importer’s own customer. Then the charge invoice and the follow-up behind it. Then the hand-off out to the trucker who takes the box away.
On an ordinary Tuesday, one clearing desk mailbox holds all of this at once:
- clearance instructions with attachments, some of them complete,
- document replies to a request you sent three days ago,
- queries about classification, duty and cut-offs,
- “has it cleared yet” from the importer and the consignee,
- charge invoices going out with the chasers behind them, and
- delivery orders for the leg after clearance.
None of that sits in your filing system. It sits in the mailbox, and a filing system was never built to answer one.
What changes when FreighAI reads the clearing desk mailbox
The first workflow for a brokerage is not a quotation. It is the document pack, and the chase behind it.
FreighAI takes over the inbox. It watches every company mailbox, pricing, operations, tracking and accounts, and follows each conversation from start to finish, not one message at a time. It works out what each email is and what it needs. It writes the reply, creates the task, and puts it in front of the right person in the right department. That person reads it beside the original conversation and approves. They do not compose, forward, file or chase. The reply goes out in their name. The follow-ups happen on their own.
For a clearing desk that starts the moment an instruction lands, attachments and all. FreighAI works out what each email is and what it needs, then takes the action that message calls for. It writes the reply, creates the task, and puts it in front of the right person in the right department, beside the original conversation. The entry becomes one task with its documents on it, not a folder built by hand across four replies.
What has not arrived is the part that matters. A clearance instruction is an enquiry like any other, and it is read the same way. FreighAI spots what is missing in an enquiry and drafts the email asking for it. Follow-ups, chasers and reminders happen on their own, on the same conversation. Nobody keeps a private list of who still owes you a licence copy.
A query is a task too. “What will the duty be on this” goes to the person licensed to answer it, with that customer’s earlier entries and the whole thread beside it. FreighAI does not answer it. It prepares it, then drafts the reply once your person has decided.
“Has it cleared yet” has the same shape, with one honest qualification. Where the clearance status is read from, and whether that is your own job record or something your filing system will expose, is a discovery decision.
Work passes from pricing to operations to accounts with the email and everything it found attached. Nobody forwards it, re-keys it or asks for an update. In a brokerage that is the clearing desk to the delivery desk to accounts.
Your people work in FreighAI. Not in the inbox. Not in five browser tabs.
- 01Instruction arrivesEmail with attachments
- 02Documents readFiled against the entry
- 03Missing licence askedThen chased on the thread
- 04Pack completeChecked against the entry
- GATEYour coordinator approves
- 06Classification and dutyYour licensed people
- 07Declaration filedOn your own platform
- 08Status and invoiceDrafted on the same thread
Every missing document is already a task
FreighAI reads PDF, Excel, Word, forwarded email, WhatsApp messages, photos and scans. It spots what is missing in an enquiry and drafts the email asking for it.
- Every document against the right entryFreighAI works out what each email is and what it needs, then takes the action that message calls for.
- The chase runs without a reminderFollow-ups, chasers and reminders happen on their own, on the same conversation.
- Your desk, not your inboxYour people work in FreighAI, not in the inbox.
Which parts of FreighAI would a brokerage use first?
Start with the chase that costs your desk the most hours, not with the product list.
Booking and Job Orders Agent
Relevant when every accepted instruction has to become a job with the right parties, references and documents on it. A won quote becomes a job on its own, fully filled in. What then moves into your filing system is decided in scope.
Tracking Agent
Relevant when customers ask where the cargo is more often than they ask anything else. FreighAI answers “where is my cargo?” on the customer’s own thread, from carrier status, for approval. On a clearance job that covers the leg before the entry and the leg after it.
Invoice Reconciliation
Relevant when shipping line, terminal, container freight station and transport bills have to be matched to the right entry before anyone books them. FreighAI reads a carrier bill and matches every airway bill back to its job, checking line by line before it is booked.
Payment Collection
Relevant when your own charge invoices and disbursement recoveries need chasing. The same follow-up engine runs it, on the customer’s own conversation, and your accounts person approves before anything leaves.
What every workflow shares
Whichever document chase you start with, the same engine handles the rest. FreighAI watches every company mailbox, pricing, operations, tracking and accounts, and follows each conversation from start to finish. Chasing, tracking checks, quote expiry and follow-ups run on their own. Nobody has to remember.
Start with the document pack, because that is where the waiting is.
What stays in your filing system, what FreighAI adds and what must be scoped
A discovery structure for your own brokerage, not a connector specification.
| Area | Stays in your filing system | FreighAI adds | Decision required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Declarations and entries | Every declaration is filed where you file it today: ICEGATE, the Customs Declaration Service, Mirsal 2, or the broker software you licence | Nothing. FreighAI does not file declarations, and no filing connection is claimed | Which platform do you file on, and does the first workflow need entry status as context for a reply? |
| Classification and duty | HS codes, tariff rulings, valuation and duty calculation stay with your licensed people and the tariff tools they use | Nothing. FreighAI does not look up HS codes or duty. It prepares the question, with the entry and that customer’s earlier entries attached | Who answers a classification query, and what may FreighAI draft once they have answered? |
| Supporting documents | The copy of record and its reference: an eSANCHIT upload and the number it returns, a document sent for a Customs Declaration Service entry | Reads PDF, Excel, Word, forwarded email, WhatsApp messages, photos and scans. The chase for what has not arrived runs on the same thread as the request | Which mailboxes and documents may FreighAI read, and who uploads the final copy? |
| Queries and clearance status | The status your filing platform gives you, and the answer only a licensed person should give | Turns the question into a task for that person, with the entry and the conversation beside it, and drafts the reply | Where does the status come from, and which questions may never be answered without a person? |
| Duty, charges and invoices | The duty payment, the disbursement account, the customer ledger and the statutory books stay in your accounting system | Matches the bills that come back to the right entry, and keeps the chaser on your own charge invoice running | Which system issues the invoice, and who approves a chaser before it goes? |
| The leg after clearance | The delivery order, the transport booking and the proof of delivery live wherever they live today | Carries the finished entry to whoever owns the delivery leg, with the documents and the conversation attached | Who owns the delivery leg, and does your hand-off end at your door or at your customer’s? |
- Declarations and entries
- Stays in your filing system
- Every declaration is filed where you file it today: ICEGATE, the Customs Declaration Service, Mirsal 2, or the broker software you licence
- FreighAI adds
- Nothing. FreighAI does not file declarations, and no filing connection is claimed
- Decision required
- Which platform do you file on, and does the first workflow need entry status as context for a reply?
- Classification and duty
- Stays in your filing system
- HS codes, tariff rulings, valuation and duty calculation stay with your licensed people and the tariff tools they use
- FreighAI adds
- Nothing. FreighAI does not look up HS codes or duty. It prepares the question, with the entry and that customer’s earlier entries attached
- Decision required
- Who answers a classification query, and what may FreighAI draft once they have answered?
- Supporting documents
- Stays in your filing system
- The copy of record and its reference: an eSANCHIT upload and the number it returns, a document sent for a Customs Declaration Service entry
- FreighAI adds
- Reads PDF, Excel, Word, forwarded email, WhatsApp messages, photos and scans. The chase for what has not arrived runs on the same thread as the request
- Decision required
- Which mailboxes and documents may FreighAI read, and who uploads the final copy?
- Queries and clearance status
- Stays in your filing system
- The status your filing platform gives you, and the answer only a licensed person should give
- FreighAI adds
- Turns the question into a task for that person, with the entry and the conversation beside it, and drafts the reply
- Decision required
- Where does the status come from, and which questions may never be answered without a person?
- Duty, charges and invoices
- Stays in your filing system
- The duty payment, the disbursement account, the customer ledger and the statutory books stay in your accounting system
- FreighAI adds
- Matches the bills that come back to the right entry, and keeps the chaser on your own charge invoice running
- Decision required
- Which system issues the invoice, and who approves a chaser before it goes?
- The leg after clearance
- Stays in your filing system
- The delivery order, the transport booking and the proof of delivery live wherever they live today
- FreighAI adds
- Carries the finished entry to whoever owns the delivery leg, with the documents and the conversation attached
- Decision required
- Who owns the delivery leg, and does your hand-off end at your door or at your customer’s?
Every row is a question for discovery, not a promise. Nothing moves out of the second column unless you decide it should.
Where does FreighAI sit in a brokerage?
A brokerage already owns two things that work. A filing system that talks to customs, and people licensed to make the calls that matter. FreighAI is not a third.
Keep your TMS for the records. FreighAI runs the work around them. That holds for broker software too. FreighAI is an AI-first freight operations platform that can run standalone or work alongside an existing TMS or ERP. It does not require a forced replacement.
Read the stack downwards. The customer’s email arrives at the top. The entry, the classification and the duty stay at the bottom. The middle layer is the part nobody ever bought software for, and it is where a clearing desk spends its day.
Clearance instructions, document replies, classification queries, “has it cleared yet” and delivery requests.
Reads it, puts each document against the right entry, asks for what is missing, chases it, drafts the reply and hands a finished task to the right person.
The declaration, the classification, the duty, the upload reference and the statutory record. None of it moves.
Which workflow should a brokerage start with?
We scope the first workflow, integration requirements and implementation plan with your team. For a brokerage the honest first candidate is the document pack, because it holds the most waiting and has the clearest finish line. A serious scoping conversation answers five questions before anybody mentions a date.
| Question | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| What starts it? | A clearance instruction from a named customer, in a mailbox you can name. |
| What does it produce? | A complete pack against one entry, with every request and reply on one conversation. |
| Who approves? | The coordinator who owns that customer, before anything leaves in their name. |
| What stays yours? | The upload, the classification, the declaration, the duty and the archive. |
| How will you judge it? | Days from instruction to a complete pack, and how many entries still wait on a document at close of business. |
- What starts it?
- What a good answer sounds like
- A clearance instruction from a named customer, in a mailbox you can name.
- What does it produce?
- What a good answer sounds like
- A complete pack against one entry, with every request and reply on one conversation.
- Who approves?
- What a good answer sounds like
- The coordinator who owns that customer, before anything leaves in their name.
- What stays yours?
- What a good answer sounds like
- The upload, the classification, the declaration, the duty and the archive.
- How will you judge it?
- What a good answer sounds like
- Days from instruction to a complete pack, and how many entries still wait on a document at close of business.
Those five answers are the implementation plan. A timeline offered before them is a guess.
The objections we hear most
Do you file our declarations for us?
No, and no filing connection is claimed anywhere on this site. Declarations go through the platform you already file on, under your own licence and credentials. FreighAI works on the email around that filing. If a demonstration ever implies otherwise, stop it there.
Can it tell us the HS code or the duty?
No. Classification, valuation and duty stay with your licensed people and the tariff tools they use. CBP issues broker licences to conduct customs business on behalf of other persons, and that judgement is the licence. FreighAI prepares the question and attaches the context. A person answers it.
Our customers send documents as phone photographs and on WhatsApp.
Reads PDF, Excel, Word, forwarded email, WhatsApp messages, photos and scans. Which channels are actually connected is decided in scope. Gmail, Outlook and WhatsApp are live connections today, each described with what it does and what it does not.
Will it email our customer without us seeing it?
Your team approves every reply before it sends. The reply goes out in the name of the person who owns that customer. Any change to that has to be a deliberate decision about one workflow, with rules written down, not a setting somebody switches on.
We already run broker software we are happy with.
Keep your TMS for the records. FreighAI runs the work around them. Your entries, your audit trail and your archive stay where they are. What changes is the mailbox around them. Keeping software you like and fixing the email work are two separate decisions.
Our entries are confidential, and our customers’ documents with them.
Which mailboxes FreighAI reads and which documents it may open are agreed before anything is connected, and written into the scope.
Common questions
Is FreighAI customs broker software?
Not in the sense of a filing platform. It does not file declarations and it does not calculate duty. It runs the email, the documents and the chasing around whatever you file on, which is where most of a clearing desk’s day goes.
Does it connect to ICEGATE, the Customs Declaration Service, ABI or Mirsal 2?
No such connection is claimed. Those are national filing platforms and they stay yours. The connections FreighAI does have are its mailbox and messaging connections and a set of carrier accounts.
We are a forwarder with our own clearance desk. Is this the right page?
Read this one for the document and query work, then the page for the freight you move. The ocean and air pages own the rate, capacity and booking side.
What happens when the document that arrives is the wrong version?
It goes to the person who owns that customer, with the earlier version and your original request beside it. FreighAI does not decide which invoice is the real one. It makes sure the person deciding has both in front of them.
How long does implementation take?
There is no honest universal answer. It depends on the workflow, the mailboxes, the documents, the approvals and the testing you want before anything goes near a live entry.
Can we add quoting later?
Yes, with its own boundary and its own measure. Nothing about the document workflow has to be undone first.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection — Customs Brokersverified 2026-09-03
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection — Importer Security Filing “10+2”verified 2026-09-03
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection — Importer Security Filing “10+2” frequently asked questionsverified 2026-09-03
- HM Revenue and Customs — Customs Declaration Serviceverified 2026-09-03
- ICEGATE, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs — eSANCHIT frequently asked questionsverified 2026-09-03
- Dubai Customs — Mirsal 2 business-to-government declaration serviceverified 2026-09-03
Duty rates, tariff numbers and filing deadlines are deliberately not repeated here. They change, they differ by country and by commodity, and the authorities above are where to read them.
Bring the entry that waited three days for a licence copy.
Send us one real clearance instruction from last week, with the chase still attached to it. We will show you the request FreighAI would have drafted, the reminders it would have sent, where your coordinator approves, and which steps stay in your filing system.