The problem
Shippers and freight forwarders send long supplier questionnaires: fleet details, maintenance, drivers' hours, training, insurance, environmental policy. A small haulier answering 2 a month at about 4 hours each spends 8 hours a month repeating the same facts in different words, often late at night.
What the AI does
Keep a fact sheet: fleet list and ages, O-license details, inspection interval, maintenance provider, how you manage drivers' hours and walkaround checks, training, insurance cover and limits, and any accreditations you actually hold. Paste the fact sheet and the questions, without the shipper's confidential pricing, into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask for draft answers using only your facts. You check every figure and claim, and the transport manager signs off anything about compliance.
A worked example
A 10-truck haulier in Daventry is asked to complete supplier questionnaires by two retailers' logistics partners a month. The owner has the facts in various files but writes each one from scratch.
Before
About 4 hours per questionnaire: 2 x 4 = 8 hours a month
After
About 1.5 hours per questionnaire to paste, check and finish: 3 hours a month
What it's worth
About $200£150€179A$288C$282 a month saved, at an assumed $40£30€36A$58C$56 an hour for the 5 hours no longer spent writing (8 hours minus 3). The free plans of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini can do this; a paid plan is up to about $27£20€24A$38C$38 a month for one person if you hit usage limits.
How to set it up
- Write a fact sheet with your fleet, license, maintenance, drivers' hours, training, insurance and accreditation details, and keep it up to date.
- Paste the fact sheet and the tender questions into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask for answers that use only the fact sheet.
- Check every number and claim against your records, and delete anything the assistant added.
- Have the transport manager read and approve every answer about compliance, maintenance and drivers' hours.
- Save the approved answers so the next questionnaire starts from them.
What goes wrong
- An assistant may claim an accreditation, policy or figure you don't have. A false answer in a tender can lose the contract later, so check every line.
- Questions about drivers' hours and maintenance are about your O-license duties. The transport manager must own those answers.
- Don't paste the shipper's confidential rates, volumes or other bidders' details into consumer AI plans.
- Free plans have usage limits, and a long questionnaire may need splitting into sections.