C.H. Robinson’s New Era: A Conversation with CEO Dave Bozeman

As Dave Bozeman takes the stage at his first investor day as CEO of C.H. Robinson, he’ll have to contend with a freight recession, the threat of higher tariffs, and the turnaround of a century-old logistics giant.

“I want to lay out our vision and that we actually already started executing,” Bozeman told CNBC in an exclusive interview ahead of the company’s investor day on Thursday. “We are going to grow market share, and we are going to expand our overall operating margins.”

### A New Era

On Thursday, executives of the shipping company will present new financial targets, answer questions about its shift to a lean operating model, and provide an update on business conditions, including the potential impact of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs.

### Tariffs and the Future of Logistics

Trump has said he’ll impose 60% tariffs on goods from China and 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada. That could have a material impact on C.H. Robinson, which transports goods around the world for almost 100,000 clients.

C.H. Robinson’s main business segments include global forwarding, often referred to as freight brokerage between the U.S. and other regions; and North American surface transportation, which is primarily moving freight over land.

Analysts estimate C.H. Robinson is a top 3 carrier on the China-U.S. freight lane, and the company says it carries about 10% of the freight on the U.S.-Mexico lane.

“Some shippers will say, ‘We will take on that tariff.’ The economics of that volume will probably change in pricing and things like that. Either way we’re still going to move that freight,” Bozeman said. “The freight still has to move. It might just move at a different starting point, and we would still be there to move that.”

### The Role of Technology

Technology will also be in focus at Thursday’s investor day, including C.H. Robinson’s partnership with Microsoft and its use of Azure AI.

“We went in hard with AI. It’s a game changer for us and particularly for our scale,” Bozeman said, noting the partnership with Microsoft has been a major value add, but much of the work is done internally.

“Our engineers actually do the large language models. We are driving out 10,000 email quotes [per day] that are being deployed via large language models. I’ve been really pleased with the productivity that we have had using this technology,” Bozeman said.

### Conclusion

As C.H. Robinson’s new CEO, Dave Bozeman is focused on growing market share, expanding operating margins, and leveraging technology to drive efficiency. The company’s shift to a lean operating model, similar to those used by Amazon, Caterpillar, and Ford, is expected to lead to long-term growth and increased profitability.

### FAQs

Q: What are C.H. Robinson’s main business segments?
A: The company’s main business segments include global forwarding and North American surface transportation.

Q: How will C.H. Robinson mitigate the impact of potential tariffs?
A: The company believes that its diversified business and use of technology will allow it to work through tariffs and maintain its market share.

Q: What is C.H. Robinson’s partnership with Microsoft focused on?
A: The partnership is focused on using Azure AI to drive efficiency and productivity in the company’s operations.