Qube makes an AI play

SYDNEY software company Clear.ai has announced what it says is the “successful transformation” of Qube Global’s freight forwarding business via the deployment of Clear.ai’s AI-native freight and customs platform.

The announcement occurred at the Australia & New Zealand Shipping & Logistics Conference in Sydney.

The concept is said to mark an industry shift: manual data entry has been removed from Qube Global’s freight forwarding operations, replacing traditional, process-heavy workflows with an autonomous, AI operating model.

According to Clear.ai, enterprise forwarding software migrations have traditionally taken months or years.

The Qube approach was described as different, however. During an 18-week period, Clear.ai worked across Qube Global’s forwarding, customs and billing operations, combining system migration with a broader redesign of how work is executed.

Under the new model, routine operational work progresses automatically, with Qube’s teams stepping in where human judgement, experience and context are most valuable.

The transformation has been highlighted as an example of how autonomous AI can move beyond isolated pilots and individual productivity tools into complex freight forwarding.

Qube Global says the result is not simply faster software, rather it is a fundamentally different way of working.

Clear.ai founder Anthony Wan, said Qube approached them with a vision to rebuild their entire freight forwarding operations around AI,” Mr Wan said.

“Enterprise migrations of this scale can take many months or even years. Qube completed the transition to Clear.ai in just 18 weeks across a complex, high-volume operation, while radically increasing the capacity of its team. They saw early what autonomous agents could make possible and had the conviction to redesign the business around them.

“We believe the future of freight forwarding is AI-native. Clear.ai exists to help freight companies get there.”

Qube Holdings director, logistics and infrastructure, John Digney, said true digital transformation wasn't about giving people better tools to do the same old tasks, rather it was “about fundamentally changing what work gets done. In our forwarding business, we have completely removed data entry”.

“That entire category of manual work is gone,” Mr Digney said.

“Our people no longer spend their days rekeying data from emails and PDFs. Instead, they lead on high-value commercial decisions, proactive customer engagement, and complex exception management.

“What Clear.ai allowed us to do was build an operation that is AI-first by design, giving Qube an unparalleled speed and accuracy advantage in the market.”

He said their team had “fundamentally transformed the way we operate and interact with our global customers”.