On February 20, 2026, Spedifort hosted an AI challenge as part of its "Speditalks by Rathmann" series. During the webinar, participants were able to watch live as Tom Hansult from DXR solved a practical challenge for HTS Hüttges Transport-Service with the help of AI, while Andreas Rinnhofer from Spedifort and Christine Hüttges discussed their experiences with AI to date with moderator Matthias Rathmann.
© SpeditalksClockwise: Christine Hüttges from HTS, Matthias Rathmann from Rathmann Communications, Andreas Rinnhofer from Spedifort, and Tom Hansult from DXR.
AI in companies
Andreas Rinnhofer began by reporting that AI enables "extremely efficient work". However, the most important basis for this is well-organized data. Spedifort now uses 9 bots and 130 workflows for automation. "The best bot is the bot that the customer doesn't notice, and these bots make sense. The biggest question we get in support is, 'How can I reset my password?' Our support bot now handles 84% of these requests automatically."
© Hugo Huijbers | FreshPlaza.com
Christine Hüttges, Raymond Westmaas, and Rob van Bekkum from the German-Dutch fresh produce forwarder Hüttges, with locations in Kranenburg, Hamburg, and Rotterdam.
Christine Hüttges represented HTS Hüttges Transport-Service as its new managing director. "Until a year ago, a lot of work was still done on paper here. Then we upgraded the software for transport. In the customs department, we faced the challenge of having many orders but somewhat scattered manpower. So we teamed up with an Austrian company that specializes in customs." AI reads the pages of import documents and summarizes them so that customs officers don't have to invest so much time and can concentrate on customer consultations again. "The software still needs a little fine-tuning. Especially when it comes to customs in Germany, it has to be right, so we're still a little cautious," she noted.
© Speditalks
The first steps in AI processing are with speech recognition, translation, and data extraction.
Practical challenge: Shared mailbox for emails
One practical problem is the email inbox, which all dispatchers have access to. For each order, there are things that need to be checked initially: Is the customer already in the system? Is the order complete? Are the resources available for the order? At the same time, foreign-language emails may need to be translated. Tom Hansult took on the challenge and tried to solve this problem in less than an hour.
Hansult, too, emphasized that "a central database is a game changer that enables automation". In the demo database, he created a verification step, e.g., for the completeness of the transport order, which allows an automatic email to be sent to customers if any information is missing. He considers these intermediate steps, which are checked by employees, to be crucial so that any errors made by the AI are detected before the end of processing.
© Speditalks
Further steps performed by the AI include a completeness check and customer comparison within the system.
If an automatic email is sent, processing is paused and starts again from the beginning when additional information is received from the customer. That way, everything is stored in a database, which also enables the company to perform good statistical analysis, such as how many orders are incomplete or how long it takes for an order to be accepted. In addition, Hansult created a form for new customers that is sent automatically if the customer is not yet in the system.
AI solution for HTS Hüttges Transport-Service
With the help of Claude AI, Hansult integrated several AI workflows into the demo database and used an example scenario to explain how AI could support the work of dispatchers in the future. In this example, a new Polish-speaking customer had sent an inquiry. The AI processed the email by recognizing the language, in this case Polish, and translating it into German. It then listed the data in a structured manner, checked it for completeness with customs information, and performed a customer comparison in the system. At the end, employees receive a summary with status information and can send out the new customer form in German and, for example, Polish with a single click.
© SpeditalksAfter processing, employees receive an overview and can send out an automatic email.
Data protection
Hüttges was visibly impressed by what Hansult had achieved in an hour. At the same time, she expressed some concern: "What about data protection? I can't just upload all my data, can I? Or am I being too German?" Rinnhofer understood her objection. "AI costs me EUR 130,000 a year in the backend – and that figure is rising! But if you invest money for pro users, you can get it past the data protection officer. Data protection is very difficult, which is why we spend a lot of money on it, have an external data protection officer, and have the tools checked in advance. And we don't use the free version of anything, because enterprise-level data must be well protected," he concluded.
For more information:
Andreas Rinnhofer
Spedifort
Am Neugrund 39
D-83088 Kiefersfelden
Phone: +49 (0)8033 97892-0
E-Mail: [email protected]
https://www.spedifort.com/
Matthias Rathmann
Rathmann Communications
Mould Road 9
72622 Nürtingen
Phone: +49 151 41 80 84 01
E-Mail: [email protected]
https://www.rathmann-communications.de/
Christine Hüttges
HTS Hüttges Transport-Service GmbH & Co. KG
Im Hammereisen 57
47559 Kranenburg
Phone: +49 (0) 2826 9142-0
E-Mail: [email protected]
https://www.hts-deutschland.de/
Tom Hansult
DXResults GmbH
Steinkopfstraße 6-8
61231 Bad Nauheim
E-Mail: [email protected]
https://digitalxresults.de/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-hansult/
