C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW)
Matches shippers with truck, ocean, and air capacity across global trade lanes.
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C.H. Robinson sells trucking it does not own. Shippers hand it freight, it finds a carrier out of a huge pool of mostly small fleets, and it keeps the difference between what the shipper pays and what the carrier charges. Freight volumes have been shrinking for years, so the story now is not growth but cost — software doing work that people used to do, and a payroll that keeps getting smaller.
Item facts: FY2025 · year ended Dec 31, 2025, from filings, earnings calls and company pages.
Judgment weights, not filed revenue
The band summarizes business focus and direction. ~ marks estimates.
7 in detail · 10 more below
Truckload brokerage
Matching full trailer loads to a pool of more than 450,000 mostly small carriers across North America. The largest single customer was about 2% of 2025 revenue — the concentration is in the service, not the buyer.
Competes with Integrated Capacity Solutions (J.B. Hunt) · Truckload brokerage (Total Quality Logistics) · Brokered Transportation (RXO)
In plain English
Picture a factory with a full trailer of goods and no truck of its own. Robinson knows hundreds of thousands of small trucking outfits, many of them a handful of rigs, and puts the load with one of them.
The shipper pays Robinson the freight bill, Robinson pays the trucker less than that, and the gap is the earnings. Management says 75–85% of this freight moves on year-long contracts rather than day-of deals, so the work is winning bids each year and then buying trucks cheaply enough to leave a margin. When day-of truck prices jump, the carrier's cut rises faster than the bill and the gap narrows.
LTL brokerage
Part-loads consolidated onto carriers that run shared networks, and the line actually growing: money kept rose 21.8% in the June 2026 quarter on 2% more orders. With truckload it is 60.9% of everything Robinson keeps.
Competes with LTL broker franchise (WWEX Group) · LTL-heavy brokerage (Echo Global Logistics) · Brokered Transportation (RXO)
In plain English
Freight that fills a few pallets, not a whole trailer. Robinson gathers those part-loads and hands them to carriers running shared routes — the way a bus carries many passengers who each paid for one seat.
Because Robinson books so much of this, it buys deep discounts and resells at a shallower one, pocketing the difference. That per-shipment spread, not volume, is what has been growing: in the June 2026 quarter orders rose 2.0% while the money kept per order rose 19.5%. Prices here are hard for a shipper to see through, which is exactly why a buyer with scale earns more per shipment than it does on full truckloads.
Ocean freight forwarding
Buying container space wholesale from shipping lines and reselling it to importers. The money kept fell 16.8% in 2025 and slipped again in the June 2026 quarter even as shipments grew — the carriers' own rates decide how much middle is left.
Competes with Sea Logistics (Kuehne+Nagel) · Air & Sea (DSV) · Ocean services (Expeditors International)
In plain English
Robinson books space on other companies' container ships in bulk and resells it to importers in smaller pieces. It owns no ships; it is a wholesaler of slots.
This got smaller. The overseas-forwarding arm's revenue fell from $3.81B in 2024 to $3.09B in 2025, and the money kept on ocean dropped 16.8%, because when the shipping lines hold the pricing power the middleman's spread thins. What is left runs leaner: that arm's margin on the money it keeps reached 33.4% in the June 2026 quarter, up about 4.7 points, comfortably past the 30% the company aims for mid-cycle. Shrinking on top, fatter underneath.
Air freight forwarding and customs brokerage
Two small lines sold to the same importers: cargo space on planes, and the border paperwork that releases a load. Customs was 2025's fastest-growing line as tariff rules multiplied entries, then fell 9.4% in the June 2026 quarter.
Competes with Air Logistics (Kuehne+Nagel) · Air & Sea (DSV) · Air freight and customs (Expeditors International)
In plain English
When the sea is too slow — medicines, chips, anything urgent — cargo flies, and Robinson buys the hold space and fills it with several customers' goods. Alongside it sits customs work: filing the entry that gets a shipment released at the border, charged as a fee.
The customs half buys almost nothing in, so nearly all of the fee stays in the house, which is why a tiny slice of revenue is a meaningful slice of earnings. The two move oddly: in the June 2026 quarter air tonnage fell 7.5% while the money kept per ton rose 33.5%, and customs went the other way after a year when trade-rule churn made every entry more complicated.
C.H. Robinson Managed Solutions
Running a big shipper's entire transport operation for a fee rather than a cut of each load. Grew 11.9% in the June 2026 quarter, and the loads it plans get booked back through Robinson's own truck and pallet desks.
Competes with Managed transportation (Uber Freight) · Managed transportation (GEODIS) · Logistics management (Ryder)
In plain English
Some large shippers would rather not run a freight department at all. They hand the whole thing over — planning, booking, paying carriers, and the software to watch it — and pay Robinson a fee for running it.
A fee means the bill is small but almost none of it goes back out, which is how a line worth roughly 1% of revenue is 4.2% of the money kept. Launched under this name in November 2024, it is also a feeder: the freight it plans flows into Robinson's own truckload and pallet desks. One account it has disclosed saves about $1M a year after cutting loads 17% across 20 locations.
Lean AI platform and Navisphere
The in-house booking system with hundreds of AI helpers layered over it. It earns nothing directly; its job is to move more freight with fewer people. The 2026 operating profit target of $965M–$1.04B leans on it.
Competes with Freight platform and Powered (Uber Freight) · Transportation management software (e2open) · Technology stack (RXO)
In plain English
Every quote, booking and invoice at Robinson passes through one system the company built itself, called Navisphere. Since 2025 it has been adding hundreds of small software workers on top — programs that chase a missed pickup, answer a price request or log a tracking update with nobody typing.
No customer buys this. It shows up instead as work that no longer needs a person: staff went from 17,399 at the end of 2022 to 11,855 at the end of 2025, and management guides to double-digit productivity gains in both big segments through 2026. The catch is that rivals are chasing the same automation.
Robinson Fresh
The produce business, and the one place Robinson owns what it sells: $1.41B of produce revenue in 2025 at about a ten-cent margin per dollar. It grew while truckload did not.
Competes with Fresh produce sourcing and distribution (Dole) · Branded fresh produce (Fresh Del Monte Produce)
In plain English
The odd one out. Here Robinson buys the goods itself — fruit, vegetables and other perishables from growers and packers — markets them to supermarkets and foodservice buyers, and hauls them in refrigerated trailers.
Owning the produce means owning the risk: a load that spoils is Robinson's loss, and the margin is thin at roughly ten cents kept on each dollar billed, against about seventeen across the company. The compensation is that people eat in any economy. Money kept here rose from $146.3M in 2024 to $161.1M in 2025, through the same freight slump that shrank the trucking side.
Truckload brokerageMatching full trailer loads to a pool of more than 450,000 mostly small carriers across North America. The largest single customer was about 2% of 2025 revenue — the concentration is in the service, not the buyer.Matching full trailer loads to a pool of more than 450,000 mostly small carriers across North America. The largest single customer was about 2% of 2025 revenue — the concentration is in the service, not the buyer.
In plain English
Picture a factory with a full trailer of goods and no truck of its own. Robinson knows hundreds of thousands of small trucking outfits, many of them a handful of rigs, and puts the load with one of them.
The shipper pays Robinson the freight bill, Robinson pays the trucker less than that, and the gap is the earnings. Management says 75–85% of this freight moves on year-long contracts rather than day-of deals, so the work is winning bids each year and then buying trucks cheaply enough to leave a margin. When day-of truck prices jump, the carrier's cut rises faster than the bill and the gap narrows.
Competes with Integrated Capacity Solutions (J.B. Hunt) · Truckload brokerage (Total Quality Logistics) · Brokered Transportation (RXO)
LTL brokeragePart-loads consolidated onto carriers that run shared networks, and the line actually growing: money kept rose 21.8% in the June 2026 quarter on 2% more orders. With truckload it is 60.9% of everything Robinson keeps.Part-loads consolidated onto carriers that run shared networks, and the line actually growing: money kept rose 21.8% in the June 2026 quarter on 2% more orders. With truckload it is 60.9% of everything Robinson keeps.
In plain English
Freight that fills a few pallets, not a whole trailer. Robinson gathers those part-loads and hands them to carriers running shared routes — the way a bus carries many passengers who each paid for one seat.
Because Robinson books so much of this, it buys deep discounts and resells at a shallower one, pocketing the difference. That per-shipment spread, not volume, is what has been growing: in the June 2026 quarter orders rose 2.0% while the money kept per order rose 19.5%. Prices here are hard for a shipper to see through, which is exactly why a buyer with scale earns more per shipment than it does on full truckloads.
Competes with LTL broker franchise (WWEX Group) · LTL-heavy brokerage (Echo Global Logistics) · Brokered Transportation (RXO)
Ocean freight forwardingBuying container space wholesale from shipping lines and reselling it to importers. The money kept fell 16.8% in 2025 and slipped again in the June 2026 quarter even as shipments grew — the carriers' own rates decide how much middle is left.Buying container space wholesale from shipping lines and reselling it to importers. The money kept fell 16.8% in 2025 and slipped again in the June 2026 quarter even as shipments grew — the carriers' own rates decide how much middle is left.
In plain English
Robinson books space on other companies' container ships in bulk and resells it to importers in smaller pieces. It owns no ships; it is a wholesaler of slots.
This got smaller. The overseas-forwarding arm's revenue fell from $3.81B in 2024 to $3.09B in 2025, and the money kept on ocean dropped 16.8%, because when the shipping lines hold the pricing power the middleman's spread thins. What is left runs leaner: that arm's margin on the money it keeps reached 33.4% in the June 2026 quarter, up about 4.7 points, comfortably past the 30% the company aims for mid-cycle. Shrinking on top, fatter underneath.
Competes with Sea Logistics (Kuehne+Nagel) · Air & Sea (DSV) · Ocean services (Expeditors International)
Air freight forwarding and customs brokerageTwo small lines sold to the same importers: cargo space on planes, and the border paperwork that releases a load. Customs was 2025's fastest-growing line as tariff rules multiplied entries, then fell 9.4% in the June 2026 quarter.Two small lines sold to the same importers: cargo space on planes, and the border paperwork that releases a load. Customs was 2025's fastest-growing line as tariff rules multiplied entries, then fell 9.4% in the June 2026 quarter.
In plain English
When the sea is too slow — medicines, chips, anything urgent — cargo flies, and Robinson buys the hold space and fills it with several customers' goods. Alongside it sits customs work: filing the entry that gets a shipment released at the border, charged as a fee.
The customs half buys almost nothing in, so nearly all of the fee stays in the house, which is why a tiny slice of revenue is a meaningful slice of earnings. The two move oddly: in the June 2026 quarter air tonnage fell 7.5% while the money kept per ton rose 33.5%, and customs went the other way after a year when trade-rule churn made every entry more complicated.
Competes with Air Logistics (Kuehne+Nagel) · Air & Sea (DSV) · Air freight and customs (Expeditors International)
C.H. Robinson Managed SolutionsRunning a big shipper's entire transport operation for a fee rather than a cut of each load. Grew 11.9% in the June 2026 quarter, and the loads it plans get booked back through Robinson's own truck and pallet desks.Running a big shipper's entire transport operation for a fee rather than a cut of each load. Grew 11.9% in the June 2026 quarter, and the loads it plans get booked back through Robinson's own truck and pallet desks.
In plain English
Some large shippers would rather not run a freight department at all. They hand the whole thing over — planning, booking, paying carriers, and the software to watch it — and pay Robinson a fee for running it.
A fee means the bill is small but almost none of it goes back out, which is how a line worth roughly 1% of revenue is 4.2% of the money kept. Launched under this name in November 2024, it is also a feeder: the freight it plans flows into Robinson's own truckload and pallet desks. One account it has disclosed saves about $1M a year after cutting loads 17% across 20 locations.
Competes with Managed transportation (Uber Freight) · Managed transportation (GEODIS) · Logistics management (Ryder)
Lean AI platform and NavisphereThe in-house booking system with hundreds of AI helpers layered over it. It earns nothing directly; its job is to move more freight with fewer people. The 2026 operating profit target of $965M–$1.04B leans on it.The in-house booking system with hundreds of AI helpers layered over it. It earns nothing directly; its job is to move more freight with fewer people. The 2026 operating profit target of $965M–$1.04B leans on it.
In plain English
Every quote, booking and invoice at Robinson passes through one system the company built itself, called Navisphere. Since 2025 it has been adding hundreds of small software workers on top — programs that chase a missed pickup, answer a price request or log a tracking update with nobody typing.
No customer buys this. It shows up instead as work that no longer needs a person: staff went from 17,399 at the end of 2022 to 11,855 at the end of 2025, and management guides to double-digit productivity gains in both big segments through 2026. The catch is that rivals are chasing the same automation.
Competes with Freight platform and Powered (Uber Freight) · Transportation management software (e2open) · Technology stack (RXO)
Robinson FreshThe produce business, and the one place Robinson owns what it sells: $1.41B of produce revenue in 2025 at about a ten-cent margin per dollar. It grew while truckload did not.The produce business, and the one place Robinson owns what it sells: $1.41B of produce revenue in 2025 at about a ten-cent margin per dollar. It grew while truckload did not.
In plain English
The odd one out. Here Robinson buys the goods itself — fruit, vegetables and other perishables from growers and packers — markets them to supermarkets and foodservice buyers, and hauls them in refrigerated trailers.
Owning the produce means owning the risk: a load that spoils is Robinson's loss, and the margin is thin at roughly ten cents kept on each dollar billed, against about seventeen across the company. The compensation is that people eat in any economy. Money kept here rose from $146.3M in 2024 to $161.1M in 2025, through the same freight slump that shrank the trucking side.
Competes with Fresh produce sourcing and distribution (Dole) · Branded fresh produce (Fresh Del Monte Produce)
Named in filings, launches and programs
- Other logistics servicesServiceTruck-and-rail, warehousing, small parcel and fee-based managed work bundled together — $224.3M kept in 2025, up 20% in the June 2026 quarter.
- Cross-border truckloadServiceLoads running into and out of Mexico and Canada, booked through the same North American truckload desks.
- Temperature-controlled and flatbed loadsServiceRefrigerated and open-deck trailers ride alongside plain dry vans inside the truckload book.
- Retail Consolidation ServicesServiceCombining many suppliers' shipments bound for the same retailer into fuller, cheaper loads.
- Walmart Prepaid Consolidation programCustomer programNamed one of three providers in May 2026; suppliers ship on a single order into one automated consolidation center. A Walmart consolidator since 1999.
- DeSpir LogisticsBrandBought in June 2026: guarded transport and cargo escorts for high-value freight in North America, part of $79M of acquisition spending that quarter.
- Lean AI EngineerProductLaunched June 2026 for Managed Solutions; the company says it sizes up a shipper's supply chain in 25–30 minutes and handles 92% of its outsourced shipments.
- Always-On Logistics PlannerProductLinked software agents that clear up problems as they happen; one is credited with capturing 318,000 phone-call tracking updates in a month.
- Self-service booking toolsPlatformQuoting and booking screens that let smaller shippers price pallet freight themselves, feeding volume in without a salesperson.
- Transflo ELD T7 carrier programCustomer programTruck-tracking hardware offered across the contract-carrier base from February 2026.
Other logistics servicesService
Truck-and-rail, warehousing, small parcel and fee-based managed work bundled together — $224.3M kept in 2025, up 20% in the June 2026 quarter.
Cross-border truckloadService
Loads running into and out of Mexico and Canada, booked through the same North American truckload desks.
Temperature-controlled and flatbed loadsService
Refrigerated and open-deck trailers ride alongside plain dry vans inside the truckload book.
Retail Consolidation ServicesService
Combining many suppliers' shipments bound for the same retailer into fuller, cheaper loads.
Walmart Prepaid Consolidation programCustomer program
Named one of three providers in May 2026; suppliers ship on a single order into one automated consolidation center. A Walmart consolidator since 1999.
DeSpir LogisticsBrand
Bought in June 2026: guarded transport and cargo escorts for high-value freight in North America, part of $79M of acquisition spending that quarter.
Lean AI EngineerProduct
Launched June 2026 for Managed Solutions; the company says it sizes up a shipper's supply chain in 25–30 minutes and handles 92% of its outsourced shipments.
Always-On Logistics PlannerProduct
Linked software agents that clear up problems as they happen; one is credited with capturing 318,000 phone-call tracking updates in a month.
Self-service booking toolsPlatform
Quoting and booking screens that let smaller shippers price pallet freight themselves, feeding volume in without a salesperson.
Transflo ELD T7 carrier programCustomer program
Truck-tracking hardware offered across the contract-carrier base from February 2026.