CMA CGM Puts AI on the Phone, and Almost Half the Calls Never Reach a Person

CMA CGM is putting AI telephone agents into 20 countries by the end of 2026. The agents are built with HappyRobot, a start-up, and connect straight into the carrier's own systems, so they can look things up and act while the customer is still on the line.

Three jobs, three sets of numbers. A sales agent called Eva rings customers who are registered on CMA CGM's platform but have no salesperson of their own. In first campaigns in the UK and Senegal it reached more than 4,000 customers, and about one in three moved on to real talks about routes. Qualified leads go to the human sales team. In customer service, the agents answer cargo release questions: has my box been released, is customs done, where are the documents. CMA CGM says they resolve more than 46% of those calls on their own, and can send the customer an email with the release number. In finance, a pilot uses the agents to chase unpaid invoices, and some customers paid during the call.

Why this one is worth your time. It is a named company, a real job and real numbers. CMA CGM handles more than 54 million customer requests a year, so even a small share answered without a person is a big number. Rollout is under way in Europe and North America, with Africa, South America and Asia next, and the group's logistics arm CEVA after that.

Now the part the press release does not lead with. CMA CGM backed HappyRobot through its start-up programme and has since invested in it, with the stake not disclosed. So the customer reporting the results also has money in the supplier. That does not make the numbers wrong. It means they are not independent.

What we do not know. There is no error rate. We are not told whether callers know they are talking to a machine. We do not know how the 46% was measured, or how many of the 4,000 calls turned into bookings. And the most important number is missing: what happens on the other 54% of cargo release calls. How fast does the caller reach a person, and does that person know what was already said?

What to take from it. If you put AI on your own phone line, for crewing, suppliers or agents, do not judge it on the calls it closes. Judge it on the calls it hands over. A caller who is passed to a person, and has to start again from the beginning, is a caller you have made angrier than before. [Digital Ship · Splash247]

This story is part of the Maritime AI Digest of 18 October 2026.