WhatsApp automation for freight forwarders and transporters
A rate request that sits until tomorrow is a rate request someone else answered. Linkubit answers freight forwarders' and transporters' enquiries on WhatsApp and email within a minute, qualifies them on lane, mode, commodity, volume and timing, and sends every booking, shipment and invoice message on its own.
Linkubit answers a freight enquiry on WhatsApp or email within a minute, captures lane, mode, commodity, volume and timeline, and refuses to quote until it has them. Pricing gets a complete enquiry; the customer gets a reply before they ask the next forwarder.
Qualifies on
- Origin and destination port
- Mode — FCL, LCL, air, multimodal
- Commodity, and whether any of it is hazardous
- Running monthly volume, not a one-off shipment
- Incoterm, with 'not sure' as a useful answer
- When the first shipment moves
None of this is hardcoded. It is a schema you edit, which is why a completely different business runs on the same system.
Qualified before it reaches pricing
The agent never quotes before the lane is known
A rule blocks the quotation tool until origin, destination and volume are captured. Pricing gets a real enquiry rather than a one-line question.
- The block is a rule in code, not a hope in a prompt
- Captured fields fill in as the conversation goes
quote_rates blocked — volume not captured yet
Sales Agent
Some cargo is not for improvising
Hazardous cargo goes straight to a person
Class 3 flammable is not something to improvise on. The rule forces a handover before the agent answers.
- Escalation happens before a reply exists, not after a wrong one
- The DG desk answers with the thread's full context
Rule matched: hazardous cargo → escalate before answering
Priya · operations
Also built for this market
Click-to-WhatsApp actually attributes
An ad click carries a signed token, so a message from a number you have never seen still joins the person who clicked.
Hindi where it is spoken
Enquiries arrive in Hindi and get answered in Hindi, including the consent notice and the opt-out.
From rate request to proof of delivery, on WhatsApp
What a freight enquiry looks like when the assistant handles the first minute and the messages in between, and a person handles the price.
The enquiry lands, and is acknowledged in under a minute
A shipper writes on WhatsApp, on email, or from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad. The assistant replies at once with a reference number and a time the quote will arrive — the "quote request received" template — and starts asking. Inside the shipper's 24-hour window, so the reply costs nothing.
It qualifies before anyone prices
Origin, destination, mode, commodity, volume, Incoterm, first-shipment date. Asked in the shipper's language, in one message where it can, and written onto the record as they answer. A rule blocks the quotation tool until the lane and volume are known; hazardous cargo goes to a person before a reply exists.
Pricing gets a complete enquiry
Your pricing desk sees a record with every field filled and the thread attached — not a one-line "rate for Dubai?". They price it. If the enquiry is missing something, the assistant asks for all of it in one message, not three.
The quote goes out, and the deal opens
The "quote ready" template carries the number in the text, the breakdown as an attachment and a validity date. A deal opens on the pipeline at the catalogue price — never a number typed in a chat. A shipper who compares three forwarders on a phone reads the message and skips the PDF.
Booking, documents, cut-off
A YES books it. The confirmation names the cut-off before the vessel. Two days out, a documents template names exactly what is missing and asks for it in the thread — so the invoice and packing list land beside the booking, not in someone's personal inbox.
One message per milestone
Departed, delayed, arrived and clearing, delivered with the signed POD attached. Sent by the assistant when the milestone is recorded, not by a person remembering to. Delays go out before the shipper finds out from the tracking page, with one honest clause for the reason.
The invoice, and the next shipment
A due reminder three days out with a payment link and a UTR line. Then nothing — until the shipper's lane moves in their favour, or ninety days pass without a booking, at which point one marketing message asks whether volumes have changed. Once, with a STOP line, and only to people who consented.
The templates a forwarder sends
Twelve WhatsApp message templates for freight and logistics — quote received, quote ready, booking confirmed, documents, departed, delayed, arrived, delivered, invoice due, and two marketing messages that ask before they sell. Each is written the way Meta's review reads it.
| Template | Category | When it goes out |
|---|---|---|
| Quote request received | Utility | The moment an enquiry arrives, before anyone has priced it. |
| Quote ready | Utility | When pricing has a number and the customer's window has closed. |
| Missing details to quote | Utility | The enquiry cannot be priced — no volume, no commodity, no Incoterm. |
| Booking confirmed | Utility | The customer said yes and the booking exists in your system. |
| Documents needed | Utility | Two working days before cut-off, when something is still missing. |
| Shipment departed | Utility | The vessel or flight has left. |
| Delay notice | Utility | The ETA has moved by more than a day, before the customer asks. |
| Arrived, clearing customs | Utility | The cargo has landed and clearance has started. |
| Proof of delivery | Utility | Delivered, with the signed POD in hand. |
| Invoice due | Utility | Three days before an invoice is due, and once on the day. |
| Rate update on your lane | Marketing | Rates on a lane the customer actually ships have changed in their favour. |
| Dormant shipper check-in | Marketing | A customer who used to ship monthly has not booked in ninety days. |
Each template opens on its own page with the variables, a filled example and what Meta’s review objects to. Utility and authentication templates cost ₹0.115 a message in India, marketing ₹0.8631 — the pricing guide has the rest.
Questions forwarders ask
Does a freight forwarder need a product catalogue to use Linkubit?
No. Freight qualifies on lane, mode, commodity, volume and timing, and those are fields on the enquiry schema rather than products. A rate is still typed by your pricing desk; what the assistant does is make sure the desk gets a complete enquiry and the shipper gets an answer in a minute.
Can the AI quote a freight rate on its own?
Not unless you give it a rate card to quote from. By default a rule blocks the quotation tool until the lane and volume are known, and the number a shipper sees comes from your desk or your catalogue, never from the model. A rate typed in a chat is not a deal value here.
What happens with hazardous cargo?
A rule hands the conversation to a person before the assistant replies. Class 3, class 8, anything the shipper flags as DG — the DG desk gets the thread with every field captured so far, and the assistant stays silent until it is handed back.
Which messages are free and which are charged on WhatsApp?
A reply inside the shipper's 24-hour window costs a fraction of a rupee (since 1 October 2026). Quote ready, booking confirmed, documents required, departed, delayed and delivered are utility templates, charged at Meta's utility rate when the window has closed. The two re-engagement messages are marketing and need consent. Linkubit adds nothing to Meta's price.
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