Item 1. BUSINESS

Overview

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (“C.H. Robinson,” “the company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is one of the largest third party logistics companies in the world with consolidated total revenues of $14.9 billion in 2017. We are a service company. We provide freight transportation services and logistics solutions to companies of all sizes, in a wide variety of industries. During 2017, we handled approximately 19 million shipments and worked with more than 120,000 customers. We operate through a network of offices in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and South America. We have developed global transportation and distribution networks to provide transportation and supply chain services worldwide. As a result, we have the capability of facilitating most aspects of the supply chain on behalf of our customers. We have three reportable segments: North American Surface Transportation (“NAST”), Global Forwarding, and Robinson Fresh, with our remaining operating segments reported as All Other and Corporate. For financial information concerning our reportable segments and geographic regions, refer to Note 9 of our consolidated financial statements.

As a third party logistics provider, we enter into contractual relationships with a wide variety of transportation companies, and utilize those relationships to efficiently and cost-effectively arrange the transport of our customers’ freight. We utilized approximately 73,000 contracted transportation companies, including motor carriers, railroads (primarily intermodal service providers), and air and ocean carriers in 2017. Depending on the needs of our customer and their supply chain requirements, we select and hire the appropriate transportation for each shipment. Our model enables us to be flexible and provide solutions that optimize service for our customers. As an integral part of our transportation services, we provide a wide range of value-added logistics services, such as freight consolidation, supply chain consulting and analysis, optimization, and reporting.

In addition to transportation, we provide sourcing services under the trade name Robinson Fresh® (“Robinson Fresh”). Our sourcing services consist primarily of the buying, selling, and/or marketing of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other value-added perishable items. It was our original business when we were founded in 1905. The foundation for much of our logistics expertise can be traced to our significant experience in handling produce and temperature controlled commodities. We supply fresh produce through a network of independent produce growers and suppliers. Our customers include grocery retailers, restaurants, foodservice distributors, and produce wholesalers. In many cases, we also arrange the logistics and transportation of the products we sell and provide related supply chain services, such as replenishment, category management, and managed procurement services. We have developed proprietary brands of produce and have exclusive licensing agreements to distribute fresh and value-added produce under recognized consumer brand names. The produce for these brands is sourced through a preferred grower network and packed to order through contract packing agreements. We have instituted quality assurance and monitoring procedures with each of these preferred growers.

Our flexible business model has been the main driver of our historical results and has positioned us for continued growth. One of our competitive advantages is our network of offices. Our employees are in close proximity to both customers and transportation providers, which gives them broad knowledge of their local markets and enables them to respond quickly to customers’ and transportation providers’ changing needs. Employees act as a team in their sales efforts, customer service, and operations. A significant portion of most employees’ compensation is performance-oriented, based on profitability and their contributions to the success of the company. We believe this makes our employees more service-oriented and focused on driving growth and maximizing office productivity.

Our network of offices work together to meet our customers’ needs and cross-sell our services. For large, multi-location customers, we often coordinate our efforts in global account centers or in one office and rely on multiple offices to deliver specific geographic or modal needs. The majority of our global network operates on a single global technology platform called Navisphere® that is used to match customer needs with supplier capabilities, to collaborate with other offices, and to utilize centralized support resources to complete all facets of the transaction.

We have grown primarily through internal growth, by increasing market share through the addition of new customers and expanding relationships with our current customers, adding new services, expanding our market presence and operations globally, and hiring additional employees. We continually look to grow through selective acquisitions. In August 2017, we acquired Milgram & Company Ltd. (“Milgram”), a provider of freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and surface transportation primarily in Canada. The acquisition strengthens our freight forwarding and customs brokerage offerings in Canada. Milgram operates primarily in our Global Forwarding segment.

In September 2016, we completed the acquisition of APC Logistics (“APC”), a privately held company based in Australia, for the purpose of expanding our global presence and bringing additional capabilities and expertise to our portfolio. APC provides international freight forwarding and customs brokerage services in Australia and New Zealand. APC operates in our Global Forwarding segment.

On January 1, 2015, we acquired all of the outstanding stock of Freightquote.com, Inc. (“Freightquote”) for the purpose of enhancing our less than truckload (“LTL”) and truckload businesses and expanding our ecommerce capabilities. Freightquote operates in our NAST segment.

Net revenues are a Non-GAAP financial measure calculated as total revenues less the cost of purchased transportation and related services and the cost of purchased products sourced for resale. We believe net revenues are a useful measure of our ability to source, add value, and sell services and products that are provided by third parties, and we consider net revenues to be our primary performance measurement. Accordingly, the discussion of our results of operations focuses on the changes in our net revenues. The reconciliation of total revenues to net revenues is presented below (in thousands):

		For the years ended December 31,
		2017				2016				2015
Revenues:
Transportation		$	13,502,906			$	11,704,745			$	11,989,780
Sourcing		1,366,474				1,439,668				1,486,304
Total revenues		14,869,380				13,144,413				13,476,084
Costs and expenses:
Purchased transportation and related services		11,257,290				9,549,934				9,842,271
Purchased products sourced for resale		1,244,040				1,316,951				1,365,333
Total costs and expenses		12,501,330				10,866,885				11,207,604
Net revenues		$	2,368,050			$	2,277,528			$	2,268,480

Transportation and Logistics Services

C.H. Robinson provides freight transportation and related logistics and supply chain services. Our services range from commitments on a specific shipment to much more comprehensive and integrated relationships. We execute these service commitments by hiring and training people, developing proprietary systems and processes, and utilizing a network of contracted transportation providers, including, but not limited to, contract motor carriers, railroads, and air and ocean carriers. We make a profit on the difference between what we charge to our customers for the totality of services provided to them and what we pay to the transportation providers to handle or transport the freight. While industry definitions vary, given our extensive contracting to create a flexible network of solutions, we are generally referred to in the industry as a third party logistics company.

We provide all of the following transportation and logistics services:

•	Truckload: Through our contracts with motor carriers, we have access to dry vans, temperature controlled vans, flatbeds, and bulk capacity. We help our customers connect with carriers who are interested in their lanes and product types, and we help carriers find shipments to make effective use of their equipment.

•

Less than Truckload: LTL transportation involves the shipment of single or multiple pallets of freight. We focus on shipments of a single pallet or larger, although we handle any size shipment. Through our contracts with motor carriers and our operating system, we consolidate freight and freight information to provide our customers with a single source of information on their freight. In many instances, we will consolidate partial shipments for several customers into full truckloads.

•

Intermodal: Our intermodal transportation service is the shipment of freight in trailers or containers by a combination of truck and rail. We have intermodal marketing agreements with container owners and all Class 1 railroads in North America, and we arrange local pickup and delivery (known as drayage) through local contracted motor carriers. In addition, we own approximately 1,500 intermodal containers and lease approximately 1,700 containers.

•	Ocean: As a non-vessel ocean common carrier (“NVOCC”) or freight forwarder, we consolidate shipments, determine routing, select ocean carriers, contract for ocean shipments, and/or provide for local pickup and delivery of shipments.

•	Air: As a certified indirect air carrier (“Indirect Air Carrier” or “IAC”) or freight forwarder, we organize air shipments and provide door-to-door service.

•	Customs: Our customs brokers are licensed and regulated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assist importers and exporters in meeting federal requirements governing imports and exports.

•	Other Logistics Services: We provide fee-based managed services, warehousing services, small parcel, and other services.

Customers communicate their freight needs, typically on a shipment-by-shipment basis, to the C.H. Robinson team responsible for their account. The team ensures that all appropriate information about each shipment is available in our proprietary operating system. This information is entered by our employees, by the customer through our web tools, or received electronically from the customers’ systems. We utilize the information from our operating system and other available sources to select the best available carrier based upon factors such as their service score, equipment availability, freight rates, and other relevant factors.

Once the contracted carrier is selected, we receive the contract carrier’s commitment to provide the transportation. During the time when a shipment is executed, we connect frequently with the contract carrier to track the status of the shipment to meet the unique needs of our customers.

For most of our transportation and logistics services, we are a service provider. By accepting the customer’s order, we accept certain responsibilities for transportation of the shipment from origin to destination. The carrier’s contract is with us, not the customer, and we are responsible for prompt payment of freight charges. In the cases where we have agreed (either contractually or otherwise) to pay for claims for damage to freight while in transit, we pursue reimbursement from the contracted carrier for the claims. In our managed services business, we are acting as the shipper’s agent. In those cases, the carrier’s contract is typically with the customer, and we collect a fee for our services.

As a result of our logistics capabilities, some of our customers have us handle all, or a substantial portion, of their freight transportation requirements. Our employees price our services to provide a profit to us for the totality of services performed for the customer. In some cases, our services to the customer are priced on a spot market, or transactional, basis. In a number of instances, we have contracts with the customer in which we agree to handle an estimated number of shipments, usually to specified destinations, such as from the customer’s plant to a distribution center. Our commitments to handle the shipments are usually at pre-determined rates. Most of our rate commitments are for one year or less and allow for renegotiation. As is typical in the transportation industry, most of these contracts do not include specific volume commitments. When we enter into prearranged rate agreements for truckload services with our customers, we usually have fuel surcharge agreements, in addition to the underlying line-haul portion of the rate.

We purchase the majority of our truckload services from our contract truckload carriers on a spot market, or transactional, basis, even when we are working with the customer on a contractual basis. In a small number of cases, we may get advance commitments from one or more contract carriers to transport contracted shipments for the length of our customer contract. In those cases, where we have prearranged rates with contract carriers, there is a calculated fuel surcharge based on a mutually agreed-upon formula.

In the course of providing day-to-day transportation services, our employees often identify opportunities for additional logistics services as they become more familiar with our customers’ daily operations and the nuances of our customers’ supply chains. We offer a wide range of logistics services on a worldwide basis that reduce or eliminate supply chain inefficiencies. We will analyze customers’ current transportation rate structures, modes of shipping, and carrier selection. We can identify opportunities to consolidate shipments for cost savings. We will suggest ways to improve operating and shipping procedures and manage claims. We can help customers minimize storage through crossdocking and other flow-through operations. Many of these services are provided in connection with providing the transportation services and are not typically priced separately. They are usually included as a part of the cost of transportation services provided by us, based on the nature of the customer relationship. In addition to these transportation services, we may provide additional logistics services, such as contract warehousing, consulting, transportation management, and other services, for which we are usually paid separately.

As we have emphasized integrated logistics solutions, our relationships with many customers have broadened, and we have become a key provider to them by managing a greater portion of their supply chains. We may serve our customers through specially created teams and through several locations. Our transportation services are provided to numerous international

customers through our worldwide network. See Note 9 to our 2017 consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for disclosure of our total revenues from domestic and foreign customers for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015 and our long-lived assets as of December 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015 in the United States and in foreign locations.

The table below shows our net revenues by transportation mode, for the years ended December 31 (in thousands):

	2017				2016				2015				2014				2013
Truckload	$	1,229,999			$	1,257,191			$	1,316,533			$	1,190,372			$	1,065,315
LTL	407,012				381,817				360,706				258,884				239,477
Intermodal	29,145				33,482				41,054				40,631				39,084
Ocean	290,630				244,276				223,643				208,422				187,671
Air	100,761				82,167				79,096				79,125				73,089
Customs	70,952				50,509				43,929				41,575				36,578
Other Logistics Services	117,117				105,369				82,548				73,097				67,931
Total	$	2,245,616			$	2,154,811			$	2,147,509			$	1,892,106			$	1,709,145

Transportation services accounted for approximately 95 percent of net revenues in 2017, 2016, and 2015. For additional information, see Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in Item 7 of Part II of this report.

Sourcing

Since we were founded in 1905, we have been in the business of sourcing fresh produce. Much of our logistics expertise can be traced to our significant experience in handling produce and other perishable commodities. Because of its perishable nature, produce must be rapidly packaged; carefully transported within tight timetables, usually in temperature controlled equipment; and quickly distributed to replenish high-turnover inventories maintained by our customers. In many instances, we consolidate individual customer’s produce orders into truckload quantities at the point of origin and arrange for transportation of the truckloads, often to multiple destinations.

Our sourcing customer base includes grocery retailers, restaurants, foodservice distributors, and produce wholesalers.

Our sourcing services include inventory forecasting and replenishment, brand management, and category development services. We have various national and regional branded produce programs, including both proprietary brands and national licensed brands. These programs contain a wide variety of high quality, fresh bulk, and value added fruits and vegetables. These brands have expanded our market presence and relationships with many of our retail customers. We have also instituted quality assurance and monitoring programs as part of our branded and preferred grower programs.

Sourcing accounted for approximately five percent of our net revenues in 2017, 2016, and 2015.

Organization

Segment information. We have continued to expand our services and diversify our business and have also made changes to align executive oversight to the business. We have three reportable segments: NAST, Global Forwarding, and Robinson Fresh, with our remaining operating segments reported as All Other and Corporate. The All Other and Corporate segment includes Managed Services, Other Surface Transportation outside of North America, and other miscellaneous revenues and unallocated corporate expenses. See additional disclosure in Note 9 to our consolidated financial statements.

NAST provides freight transportation services across North America through a network of offices in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The primary services provided by NAST include truckload, LTL, and intermodal.

Global Forwarding provides global logistics services through an international network of offices in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and South America; and also contracts with independent agents worldwide. The primary services provided by Global Forwarding include ocean freight services, air freight services, and customs brokerage.

Robinson Fresh provides sourcing under the trade name Robinson Fresh. Our sourcing services primarily include the buying, selling, and marketing of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other perishable items. Robinson Fresh sources products from around the world. This segment often provides the logistics and transportation of the products they sell, in addition to temperature controlled transportation services for its customers.

All Other and Corporate primarily consists of Managed Services and Other Surface Transportation outside of North America. Managed Services is primarily comprised of our division, TMC, which offers Managed TMS®. Managed TMS combines a global transportation management system (“TMS”), logistics process expertise, and consulting services. Customers can access Navisphere technology, logistics experts, and supply chain engineers to manage their day-to-day operations and optimize supply chain performance.

Other Surface Transportation revenues are primarily earned by our Europe Surface Transportation operating segment. Europe Surface Transportation provides services similar to NAST across Europe.

Office Network. To keep us close to our customers and markets, we operate through a network of offices in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and South America.

Each office is responsible for its own growth and profitability. Our employees are responsible for developing new business, negotiating and pricing services, receiving and processing service requests from customers, and negotiating with carriers to provide the transportation requested. In addition to routine transportation, employees are often called upon to handle customers’ unusual, seasonal, and emergency needs. Shipments to be transported by truck are priced at the local level, and offices cooperate with each other to hire contract carriers to provide transportation. Employees often rely on expertise in other offices when contracting LTL, intermodal, ocean, and air shipments. Multiple network offices often also work together to service larger, global accounts where the expertise and resources of more than one office are required to meet the customer’s needs. Their efforts are usually coordinated by one “lead” office on the account.

Network Employees. Employees both sell to and service their customers. Sales opportunities are identified through our internal database, referrals from current customers, leads generated by people through knowledge of their local and regional markets, and company marketing efforts. Employees are also responsible for recruiting new motor carriers, who are referred to our centralized carrier services group to confirm they are properly licensed and insured, have acceptable Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (“FMCSA”) issued safety ratings, and will enter into a contract for transportation services with C.H. Robinson.

Each office is responsible for its hiring and headcount decisions, based on the needs of their office and to balance personnel resources with business requirements. Because the quality of our employees is essential to our success, we are highly selective in our recruiting and hiring. To support our hiring processes, we have a corporate talent acquisition team that develops a pipeline of qualified candidates that managers can draw from. Our applicants typically have college degrees, and some have business experience, although not necessarily within the transportation industry.

Our employees go through centralized onboarding that emphasizes development of the skills necessary to become productive employees, including technology training on our proprietary systems and our customer service philosophy. Centralized training is followed by ongoing, on-the-job training. We expect most new employees to start contributing in a matter of weeks.

Compensation programs are performance-based, and cash incentives are directly tied to productivity and performance. Most network management compensation is dependent on the profitability of their particular office. They are paid a performance-based bonus, which is a portion of the office’s earnings for that calendar year. The percentage they can potentially earn is predetermined in an annual bonus contract and is based on their productivity and contributions to the overall success of the office.

All of our managers and certain other employees who have significant responsibilities are eligible to receive equity awards because we believe these awards are an effective tool for creating long-term ownership and alignment between employees and our shareholders. Generally, these awards are eligible to vest over five-year periods and may also include financial performance-based requirements for management employees.

Employees benefit both through the growth and profitability of individual offices and by achieving individual goals. They are motivated by the opportunity to advance in a variety of career paths, including management, corporate sales, and customer and carrier account management.

Shared Services. Our network offices are supported by our shared and centralized services. Approximately ten percent of our employees provide shared services in centralized centers. Approximately 50 percent of these shared services employees are information technology personnel who develop and maintain our proprietary operating system software and our wide area network.

Executive Officers

The Board of Directors designates the executive officers annually. Below are the names, ages, and positions of the executive officers as of February 8, 2018:

Name		Age		Position
John P. Wiehoff		56		Chief Executive Officer, President, and Chairman of the Board
Robert C. Biesterfeld		42		President of North American Surface Transportation
Ben G. Campbell		52		Chief Legal Officer and Secretary
Andrew C. Clarke		47		Chief Financial Officer
Jeroen Eijsink		45		President of C.H. Robinson Europe
Angela K. Freeman		50		Chief Human Resources Officer
Jordan T. Kass		45		President of Managed Services
James P. Lemke		50		President of Robinson Fresh
Chad M. Lindbloom		53		Chief Information Officer
Christopher J. O’Brien		50		Chief Commercial Officer
Michael J. Short		47		President of Global Freight Forwarding

John P. Wiehoff has been Chief Executive Officer of C.H. Robinson since May 2002, President of the Company since December 1999, a director since 2001, and became the chairman in January 2007. Previous positions with the company include senior vice president from October 1998, chief financial officer from July 1998 to December 1999, treasurer from August 1997 to June 1998, and corporate controller from 1992 to June 1998. Prior to that, John was employed by Arthur Andersen LLP. John also serves on the Boards of Directors of Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) and Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE: DCI). He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from St. John’s University.

Robert C. Biesterfeld was named president of North American Surface Transportation in January 2016. Prior to that, Bob served as Vice President of Truckload from January 2014 to December 2015, Vice President of Sourcing and Temperature Controlled Transportation from January 2013 to December 2014, and General Manager for the U.S. West Sourcing Region for the company’s sourcing division from 2003 to 2011. He began his career with C.H. Robinson in 1999 in the Corporate Procurement and Distribution Services office. Bob serves on several industry and non-profit boards and committees. Bob graduated from Winona State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Ben G. Campbell was named Chief Legal Officer and Secretary in January 2015. Previous positions with the company include Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary from January 2009 to December 2014 and Assistant General Counsel from February 2004 to December 2008. Ben joined C.H. Robinson in 2004. Before coming to C.H. Robinson, Ben was a partner at Rider Bennett, LLP, in Minneapolis, MN. Ben holds a Bachelor of Science degree from St. John’s University and a Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law.

Andrew C. Clarke was named Chief Financial Officer in June 2015. Prior to joining C.H. Robinson, Andrew was an industry consultant from February 2013 to May 2015. From July 2006 to February 2013, Andrew served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Panther Expedited Services, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkansas Best Corporation. Prior to that, Andrew served as Chief Financial Officer of Forward Air Corporation from 2001 to 2006. Previously, Andrew served on the Board of Directors for Blount International, Inc., Forward Air Corporation, and Pacer International, Inc. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Washington University in Missouri, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Jeroen Eijsink was named President of C.H. Robinson Europe in September 2015. Jeroen served as Chief Executive Officer of DHL Freight Germany, where he was responsible for the road and rail transport activities for DHL in Germany from March 2013 to August 2015. He also served as Chief Executive Officer of DHL Freight Belgium, Netherlands, and United Kingdom from January 2011 to February 2013 and managing director of DHL Freight United Kingdom and Ireland from May 2006 to December 2010.

Angela K. Freeman was named Chief Human Resources Officer in January 2015. Prior to that, she served as Vice President of Human Resources from August 2012 to December 2014. Previous positions with C.H. Robinson include Vice President of Investor Relations and Public Affairs from January 2009 to August 2012 and Director of Investor Relations and Director of Marketing Communications. She also serves as the president of the C.H. Robinson Worldwide Foundation. Prior to joining C.H. Robinson in 1998, Angela was with McDermott/O’Neill & Associates, a Boston-based public affairs firm. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Dakota, and a Master of Science degree

from the London School of Economics. Angela also serves on the Board of Directors of LeadersUp, a national non-profit organization.

Jordan T. Kass was named President of Managed Services in January 2015. He previously served as Vice President of Management Services from January 2013 to January 2015. Previous positions with C.H. Robinson include director of TMC. Jordan began his career in 1994 at American Backhaulers and subsequently joined C.H. Robinson in 2000 following our acquisition of American Backhaulers. Jordan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University.

James P. Lemke was named President of Robinson Fresh in January 2015. Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President from December 2007 to December 2014, having previously served as Vice President, Sourcing, since 2003. Prior to that time, he served as the Vice President and Manager of C.H. Robinson’s Corporate Procurement and Distribution Services office. Jim joined the company in 1989. Jim holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of Minnesota. Jim is also the chairman of the Foundation Board of the United Fresh Produce Association. He also serves as a director for Second Harvest Heartland.

Chad M. Lindbloom was named Chief Information Officer in January 2015. He served as Senior Vice President from 2007 to 2014 and Chief Financial Officer from 1999 until June 2015. From June 1998 until December 1999, he served as Corporate Controller. Chad joined the company in 1990. Chad holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Christopher J. O’Brien was named Chief Commercial Officer in January 2015. Prior to that, he served as a Senior Vice President from May 2012 to December 2014. He has served as a Vice President since May 2003. Additional positions with C.H. Robinson include President of the company’s European division and manager of the Raleigh, North Carolina, office. Christopher joined the company in 1993. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Alma College in Michigan.

Michael J. Short was named President of Global Freight Forwarding in May 2015. He joined C.H. Robinson through the acquisition of Phoenix International in 2012 and is an 18-year veteran of the global forwarding industry. Prior to being named President, Mike served as Vice President, Global Forwarding North America. Mike held a number of roles at Phoenix, including Regional Manager, General Manager of the St. Louis office, and Sales Manager. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business.

Employees

As of December 31, 2017, we had a total of 15,074 employees, approximately 13,700 of whom were located in our network offices. Our remaining employees centrally serve our network of offices in areas such as finance, information technology, legal, marketing, and human resources.

Customer Relationships

We work to establish long-term relationships with our customers and to increase the amount of business done with each customer by providing them with a full range of logistics services. During 2017, we served over 120,000 customers worldwide, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small businesses in a wide variety of industries.

During 2017, our largest customer accounted for approximately two percent of total revenues. In recent years, we have grown by adding new customers and by increasing our volumes with, and providing more services to, our existing customers.

We seek additional business from existing customers and pursue new customers based on our knowledge of the marketplace and the range of logistics services that we can provide. We believe that our account management disciplines and decentralized structure enable our employees to better serve our customers by combining a broad knowledge of logistics and market conditions with a deep understanding of the specific supply chain issues facing individual customers and certain vertical industries. With the guidance of our executive and shared services teams, offices are given significant latitude to pursue opportunities and to commit our resources to serve our customers.

Relationships with Transportation Providers

We continually work on establishing contractual relationships with qualified transportation providers that also meet our service requirements to provide dependable services, favorable pricing, and contract carrier availability during periods when demand for transportation equipment is greater than the supply. Because we own very little transportation equipment and do not employ the people directly involved with the delivery of our customers’ freight, these relationships are critical to our success.

In 2017, we worked with approximately 73,000 transportation providers worldwide, of which the vast majority are contracted motor carriers. To strengthen and maintain our relationships with motor carriers, our employees regularly communicate with

carriers and try to assist them by increasing their equipment utilization, reducing their empty miles, and repositioning their equipment. To make it easier for contract carriers to work with us, we have a policy of payment upon receipt of proof of delivery. For those contract carriers who would like a faster payment, we also offer payment within 48 hours of receipt of proof of delivery in exchange for a discount, along with offering in-trip cash advances.

Contracted motor carriers provide access to dry vans, temperature controlled vans, flatbeds, and bulk capacity. These contract carriers are of all sizes, including owner-operators of a single truck, small and midsize fleets, private fleets, and the largest national trucking companies. Consequently, we are not dependent on any one contract carrier. Our largest truck transportation provider was less than two percent of our total cost of transportation in 2017. Motor carriers that had fewer than 100 tractors transported approximately 82 percent of our truckload shipments in 2017. Every United States and Canadian motor carrier with which we do business is required to execute a contract that establishes that the carrier is acting as an independent contractor. At the time the contract is executed, and thereafter, through subscriptions with a third party service, we confirm that each United States motor carrier is properly licensed and insured, has the necessary federally-issued authority to provide transportation services, and has the ability to provide the necessary level of service on a dependable basis. Our motor carrier contracts require that the motor carrier issue invoices only to and accept payment solely from us for the shipments that they transport under their contract with us, and allow us to withhold payment to satisfy previous claims or shortages. Our standard contracts do not include volume commitments, and the initial contract rate is modified each time we confirm an individual shipment with a carrier.

We also have intermodal marketing agreements with container owners and all Class 1 railroads in North America, giving us access to additional trailers and containers. Our contracts with railroads specify the transportation services and payment terms by which our intermodal shipments are transported by rail. Intermodal transportation rates are typically negotiated between us and the railroad on a customer-specific basis. We own approximately 1,500 53-foot containers and lease approximately 1,700 containers. We believe that these containers have helped us better serve our customers, and we will continue to analyze the strategy of controlling containers.

In our NVOCC ocean transportation business, we have contracts with most of the major ocean carriers, which support a variety of service and rate needs for our customers. We negotiate annual contracts that establish the predetermined rates we agree to pay the ocean carriers. The rates are negotiated based on expected volumes from our customers in specific trade lanes. These contracts are often amended throughout the year to reflect changes in market conditions for our business, such as additional trade lanes.

We operate both as a consolidator and as a transactional IAC in the United States and internationally. We select air carriers and provide for local pickup and delivery of shipments. We execute our air freight services through our relationships with air carriers, through charter services, block space agreements, capacity space agreements, and transactional spot market negotiations. Through charter services, we contract part or all of an airplane to meet customer requirements. Our block space agreements and capacity space agreements are contracts for a defined time period. The contracts include fixed allocations for predetermined flights at agreed upon rates that are reviewed periodically throughout the year. The transactional negotiations afford us the ability to capture excess capacity at prevailing market rates for a specific shipment.

Competition

The transportation services industry is highly competitive and fragmented. We compete against a large number of logistics companies, trucking companies, property freight brokers, carriers offering logistics services, NVOCCs, IACs, and freight forwarders. We also buy from and sell transportation services to companies that compete with us.

In our sourcing business, we compete with produce brokers, produce growers, produce marketing companies, produce wholesalers, and foodservice buying groups. We also buy from and sell produce to companies that compete with us.

We often compete with respect to price, scope of services, or a combination thereof, but believe that our most significant competitive advantages are:

•	People: Smart, dedicated, empowered people act as an extension of our customers’ teams to innovate and execute their supply chain strategies;

•	Process: Proven processes and solutions combine strategy with practical experience for customized action plans that succeed in the real world;

•	Technology: Navisphere, our proprietary technology, provides flexibility, global visibility, customized solutions, easy integration, broad connectivity, and advanced security;

•	Network: Our customers gain local presence, regional expertise, and multiple global logistics options from one of the world’s largest providers of logistics services;

•	Relationships: A large number of unique, strong relationships provide global connections and valuable market knowledge;

•	Portfolio of Services: A wide selection of services and products help provide our customers with consistent capacity and service levels;

•	Scale: Our customers leverage our industry-leading capacity, broad procurement options, and substantial shipment volumes for better efficiency, service, and marketplace advantages; and

•	Stability: Our financial strength, discipline, and consistent track record of success for strategic support of our customers’ supply chains.

Seasonality

Historically, our operating results have been subject to seasonal trends with operating income and earnings lower in the first quarter than in the other three quarters. We believe this historical pattern has been the result of, or influenced by, numerous factors, including national holidays, weather patterns, consumer demand, economic conditions, and other similar and subtle forces. Although seasonal changes in the transportation industry have not had a significant impact on our cash flow or results of operations, we expect this trend to continue and we cannot guarantee that it will not adversely impact us in the future. Our results did not follow this pattern in 2017 due primarily to changing transportation costs and customer pricing during the second half of the year.

Proprietary Information Technology and Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and nondisclosure and non-competition agreements to establish and protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology. Additionally, we have numerous registered trademarks, trade names, and logos in the United States and international locations.

Our information systems are essential to efficiently communicate, service our customers and contracted carriers, and manage our business. In 2017, we executed approximately 19 million shipments for more than 120,000 customers with more than 73,000 contract carriers.

Our systems help our employees service customer orders, select the optimal mode of transportation, build and consolidate shipments, and identify appropriate carriers, all based on customer-specific service parameters. Our systems provide our organization with the necessary business intelligence to allow for near real time scorecards and necessary decision support in all areas of our business.

Our operations primarily use Navisphere, a single global platform that allows customers to communicate worldwide with parties in their supply chain across languages, currencies, and continents. Navisphere offers sophisticated business analytics to help improve supply chain performance and meet increasing customer demands.

The Navisphere Vision web-based product allows our customers to see all of their freight across all modes and services globally in a single view. Details of shipment contents, status of shipments based on milestones, disruptions to shipments and resulting estimated time of arrival adjustment using Artificial Intelligence are provided for the user to manage their supply chain exceptions. Collaboration, intelligent notifications, and performance score carding allow customers to manage their supply chain and identify inefficiencies.

The Navisphere Carrier web-based platform provides contracted carriers additional access to our systems. Contract carriers can access available freight, perform online check calls, keep track of receivables, and upload scanned documentation. Many of our carriers’ favorite features from Navisphere Carrier are also available through our Navisphere Carrier mobile application available for Android and IOS mobile operating systems.

The Navisphere Driver mobile application provides drivers with load status automation capabilities. Drivers can elect to allow the application to complete all stop updates and in-transit calls. Drivers can also capture and upload bill of lading documentation to initiate payment processes. The high fidelity track and trace capabilities give our systems and customers frequent load status information.

Government Regulation

Our operations may be regulated and licensed by various federal, state, and local transportation agencies in the United States and similar governmental agencies in foreign countries in which we operate.

We are subject to licensing and regulation as a property freight broker and are licensed by the U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”) to arrange for the transportation of property by motor vehicle. The DOT prescribes qualifications for acting in this capacity, including certain surety bonding requirements. We are also subject to regulation by the Federal Maritime Commission as an ocean freight forwarder and a NVOCC and we maintain separate bonds and licenses for each. We operate as a Department of Homeland Security certified IAC, providing air freight services, subject to commercial standards set forth by the International Air Transport Association and federal regulations issued by the Transportation Security Administration. We provide customs brokerage services as a customs broker under a license issued by the Bureau of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. We also have and maintain other licenses as required by law.

Although Congress enacted legislation in 1994 that substantially preempts the authority of states to exercise economic regulation of motor carriers and brokers of freight, some intrastate shipments for which we arrange transportation may be subject to additional licensing, registration, or permit requirements. We generally contractually require and/or rely on the carrier transporting the shipment to ensure compliance with these types of requirements. We, along with the contracted carriers that we rely on in arranging transportation services for our customers, are also subject to a variety of federal and state safety and environmental regulations. Although compliance with the regulations governing licensees in these areas has not had a materially adverse effect on our operations or financial condition in the past, there can be no assurance that such regulations or changes thereto will not adversely impact our operations in the future. Violation of these regulations could also subject us to fines, as well as increased claims liability.

We buy and sell fresh produce under licenses issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as required by the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. Other sourcing and distribution activities may be subject to various federal and state food and drug statutes and regulations.

We are subject to a variety of other U.S. and foreign laws and regulations including, but not limited to, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other similar anti-bribery and anti-corruption statutes.

Risk Management and Insurance

We contractually require all motor carriers we work with to carry at least $750,000 in automobile liability insurance and $25,000 in cargo insurance. We also require all motor carriers to maintain workers compensation and other insurance coverage as required by law. Most contacted carriers have insurance exceeding these minimum requirements. Railroads, which are generally self-insured, provide limited common carrier cargo loss or damage liability protection, generally up to $250,000 per shipment.

As a property freight broker, we are not legally liable for loss or damage to our customers’ cargo. In our customer contracts, we may agree to assume cargo liability up to a stated maximum. We typically do not assume cargo liability to our customers above minimum industry standards in our international freight forwarding, ocean transportation, or air freight businesses on international or domestic air shipments. With regards to international freight forwarding, ocean transportation, international domestic air freight shipments, and shipments transacted by Freightquote, we offer our customers the option to purchase shippers’ interest coverage to insure goods in transit. When we agree to store goods for our customers for longer terms, we provide limited warehouseman’s coverage to our customers and typically contract for warehousing services from companies that provide us the same degree of coverage.

We maintain a broad cargo liability insurance policy to help protect us against catastrophic losses that may not be recovered from the responsible contracted carrier. We also carry various liability insurance policies, including automobile and general liability, with a $200 million umbrella. Our contingent automobile liability coverage has a retention of $5 million per incident.

As a seller of produce, we may, under certain circumstances, have legal responsibility arising from produce sales. We carry product liability coverage under our general liability and umbrella policies to cover tort claims. The deductible on our general liability coverage is $250,000 per incident. In addition, in the event of a recall, we may be required to bear the costs of repurchasing, transporting, and destroying any allegedly contaminated product, as well as potential consequential damages which were generally not insured. We carry product recall insurance coverage of $50 million. This policy has a retention of $5 million per incident.

Investor Information

We were reincorporated in Delaware in 1997 as the successor to a business existing, in various legal forms, since 1905. Our corporate office is located at 14701 Charlson Road, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, 55347-5088, and our telephone number is (952) 937-8500. Copies of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 are available free of charge through our website (www.chrobinson.com) as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file the material with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Information contained on our website is not part of this report.

Cautionary Statement Relevant to Forward-Looking Information

This Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our financial statements, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7 of Part II of this report, and other documents incorporated by reference, contain certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. When used in this Form 10-K and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, in our press releases, presentations to securities analysts or investors, in oral statements made by or with the approval of any of our executive officers, the words or phrases “believes,” “may,” “could,” “will,” “expects,” “should,” “continue,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “will likely result,” “estimates,” “projects,” or similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.

Except for the historical information contained in this Form 10-K, the matters set forth in this document may be deemed to be forward-looking statements that represent our expectations, beliefs, intentions, or strategies concerning future events. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience or our present expectations, including, but not limited to, such factors such as changes in economic conditions, including uncertain consumer demand; changes in market demand and pressures on the pricing for our services; competition and growth rates within the third party logistics industry; freight levels and increasing costs and availability of truck capacity or alternative means of transporting freight; changes in relationships with existing contracted truck, rail, ocean, and air carriers; changes in our customer base due to possible consolidation among our customers; our ability to successfully integrate the operations of acquired companies with our historic operations; risks associated with litigation, including contingent auto liability and insurance coverage; risks associated with operations outside of the U.S.; risks associated with the potential impact of changes in government regulations; risks associated with the produce industry, including food safety and contamination issues; fuel price increases or decreases, or fuel shortages; cyber-security related risks; the impact of war on the economy; changes to our capital structure, and other risks and uncertainties, including those described below. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to update these statements in light of subsequent events or developments.