Reducing Manual Data Transfer Across Freight Operations - RBF Cargocare Ltd

RBF Cargocare manages large volumes of freight and customs declarations every day across a wide range of shipment types and customer requirements.

Commercial invoices, packing lists, bills of lading, CMRs, pre-alerts, health certificates, certificates of origin, and customs declarations often arrived in different formats and at different stages of the shipment process.

Customs items need to be accurately declared in a timely manner, with the right HS codes to avoid penalties and keep freight moving smoothly across borders.  

Handling this information formed a significant part of the daily workload. Teams regularly moved between PDFs, spreadsheets, emails, and customs systems to complete declarations, capture information, and manage customer requirements.

As shipment volumes and declaration complexity increased, customs workflows became more time-intensive to manage.

Large and detailed declarations took considerable time to complete, while growing shipment volumes placed additional pressure on teams responsible for customs entry and administration.

During busy periods, teams were spending increasing amounts of time transferring information between systems to manage declarations and shipment activity.

Much of the declaration work is time sensitive, with the potential for major additional costs in the event of late clearances.

Employees were feeling under pressure, trying to manage unorganised documents and turn them into declarations they could actually submit.  

Verso Waves introduced several improvements designed to simplify and accelerate data processing across customs workflows.

Excel templates reduced the amount of static information that needed to be entered for repeat customers and recurring shipment types, with auto-mapping of HS Codes.

The ability to process incoming XML files enabled jobs to be generated directly within the platform from external data sources.

More recently, Verso Waves introduced AI-powered document reading capable of extracting information directly from unstructured documents such as PDFs. This allowed key shipment and declaration data to be captured automatically, significantly improving processing efficiency across more complex bookings.

The biggest impact was seen on more complex customs entries, where teams had previously spent considerable time handling documentation manually.

Because Verso Waves was designed specifically for freight forwarding operations, the improvements focused on reducing friction across existing processes rather than forcing teams into rigid new ways of working.

The platform allowed RBF to introduce automation gradually across customs and shipment workflows without disrupting existing operational processes.

Automated declaration creation and AI-powered document reading helped reduce repetitive data capture while improving processing speed during high-volume periods.

A clean and intuitive user interface allowed users to quickly work with larger amounts of data and documents while spending less time hunting for the information they needed.  

Checklists and statuses allowed users to quickly see which documents had been processed and which were still expected.  

Audit logging in the system allowed for a universal paper trail of when documents were handled and by whom.  

Following implementation, RBF improved efficiency across customs entry and shipment administration activities.

Improved consistency helped lower the likelihood of keying errors and declaration inconsistencies, while teams were able to manage higher volumes more effectively during busy periods.

The business also reported improved confidence in reporting accuracy and declaration consistency, particularly across more detailed customs entries.

Operationally, teams spent less time managing documentation and more time focused on compliance and customer service.

Users were much clearer about the documentation they were responsible for and which documents their colleagues were handling, removing confusion about responsibility and workload.  

Document logging and organisation enabled much quicker, more accurate data retrieval when required.

RBF reported measurable reductions in manual customs administration, improved declaration consistency, and faster processing across high-volume shipment activity.

Automated data extraction and declaration creation also helped the business manage higher operational volumes more efficiently.

Customers of the business saw significant improvements in the service they received and increased their volume with the business by up to 50% in some cases.