Global supply chains have gone digital—except for the documents. Bills of Lading, customs forms, and freight invoices still arrive via email, fax, or paper, creating costly slowdowns, data entry risks, and compliance gaps. While logistics software has advanced, document workflows haven’t kept up.
This article explores how AI-powered Bill of Lading OCR and document automation are helping logistics teams digitize freight workflows—improving accuracy, speeding up customs, and eliminating manual entry from the core.
What Manual Document Handling Often Looks Like
When a Bill of Lading arrives, it’s sometimes scanned or faxed, often folded and annotated. A customs form follows from a freight forwarder. Then a purchase order PDF lands in the inbox from a customer halfway around the world. Here’s how the typical workflow plays out:
- A staff member opens an email attachment or scans a physical document.
- They manually retype the data, shipper name, consignee, container ID, cargo description, into a TMS or ERP system.
- A second team member cross-checks the entry, correcting typos or clarifying hand-written notes.
- Data is often copied into spreadsheets for reconciliation or handed off to finance for invoicing.
- If customs compliance is involved, someone double-checks that all data aligns to regulatory formats and documentation standards.
Multiply this by hundreds, or thousands, of shipments a month, across languages, formats, and ports. The result? A logistical fog of paper trails, rework loops, and invisible delays.
The Cost of Manual Document Handling
Manual data entry isn’t just tedious, it’s a hidden source of operational drag. Here’s what’s at stake:
- Delayed Customs Clearance: A mistyped HS code or missing consignee name can stall entire shipments.
- Invoicing Lag: When freight invoices depend on hand-entered BOL data, billing cycles stretch and cash flow suffers.
- Regulatory Risk: Manual documentation increases the likelihood of compliance violations or audit gaps.
- Operational Drag: Teams waste time managing exceptions caused by preventable data errors.
This is more than inefficiency, it’s friction that compounds across your supply chain, eroding speed and profitability.
OCR API Built for Freight-Grade Toughness
Not all OCR is created equal, especially when the document in question is a blurry, watermarked, or multi-language Bill of Lading buried in an email thread. Veryfi’s Bill of Lading OCR API was designed to succeed not in perfect lab conditions, but in the unpredictable and time-sensitive workflows of global logistics. Here’s what makes it uniquely capable:
Pre-Trained on Logistics-Specific Document Variants
Unlike generic OCR platforms that need you to train models from scratch, Veryfi’s OCR is pre-trained on thousands of real-world BOL formats—including handwritten signatures, carrier stamps, scanned PDFs, and multi-language layouts.
- Handles both structured and semi-structured BOLs from ocean, air, and LTL carriers
- Recognizes logos, table formats, and inconsistent field placements
- Identifies key fields like vendors, dates, line-items, identifiers (account number, invoice number, etc), and more
Full Document Intelligence in One API Call
Veryfi doesn’t just extract the top-level fields. It also captures line-item detail, which is critical for freight auditing, customs declarations, and matching against purchase orders or invoices.
- Line-by-line extraction of cargo descriptions, SKUs, quantities, weights
- Automated field normalization (e.g. abbreviations, units of measure)
- Configurable output in JSON, ready for ingestion into your TMS or ERP system
Real-Time Processing at Scale
Every document is processed in under 5 seconds, thanks to Veryfi’s cloud-first architecture optimized for speed and concurrency.
- Parallel processing of large document volumes
- Supports async workflows with webhook callbacks
- Built-in duplicate detection to prevent reprocessing errors
Developer-First Integration
Whether you’re building for mobile field capture, a freight audit dashboard, or ERP ingestion, Veryfi offers multiple integration paths:
- Developer-ready REST APIs with full documentation and sample code
- SDKs for Python, Java, Kotlin, C#, Ruby, Go, Dart
- Veryfi Lens for mobile-based capture—including offline mode, auto-cropping, and glare correction
Secure by Design
With SOC 2 Type 2 certification and compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA, Veryfi ensures customer data is processed securely and responsibly. Unlike many OCR vendors, no humans in the loop means complete data privacy, even during model inference.
OCR Is Infrastructure for the Digitized Supply Chain
Logistics companies have mastered moving containers. Now it’s time to master the movement of the data behind the cargo. With Veryfi, you’re not just extracting data. You’re unlocking speed, clarity, and compliance—at scale.
Whether you’re automating customs declarations, feeding data into SAP TM, or reducing time-to-invoice for every freight movement—Veryfi ensures every BOL and PO you process is structured, searchable, and standardized. Request a personalized demo today!