Freight Brokerage

Freight Brokerage covers the intermediaries who match shippers with carriers and arrange freight transportation without owning the trucks, ships, or planes — domestic truckload and LTL brokerage, international freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and ocean/NVOCC services. At roughly $135 billion across ~22,000 establishments, it is an asset-light, relationship- and technology-driven business sitting between shippers and capacity.

Revenue is highly cyclical with freight rates: the ~16% growth reflects the 2021–22 freight boom (when supply-chain disruption sent rates soaring), which was followed by a severe 2023–24 freight recession that hit brokerage hard. The domestic truckload-brokerage market is large and fragmented (C.H. Robinson the leader at well under 20% share), and the sector is being reshaped by digital freight platforms and automation — though Convoy's 2023 collapse showed the model's challenges. International forwarding is consolidated around global players.