NAST provides transportation and logistics services across North America through a network of offices in the United States,U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The primary services provided by NAST areinclude truckload and less than truckload (“LTL”) transportation brokerage services.

Global Forwarding provides transportation and logistics services through an international network of offices in North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and South America;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 services that primarily include the buying, selling, and/or marketing of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other value-added perishable items. Robinson Fresh sources products from around the world.

Other Surface Transportation revenues are primarily earned by our Europe Surface Transportation operating segment. Europe Surface Transportation provides transportation and logistics services, including truckload and groupage services, across Europe.

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 commitmentsservices by investing in and retaining talented employees, developing innovative proprietary systems and processes, and utilizing a network of contracted transportation providers, including, but not limited to, contracted motor carriers, railroads, and ocean and air carriers. We make a profit that is driven by the value we provide our customers and the resulting 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.

We provide the following transportation and logistics services:

Customers communicate their freight needs, typically on an order-by-order basis, to the C.H. Robinson team responsible for their account, either directly or through highly automated connections established between Navisphere and the customers' transportation management system. The C.H. Robinson team then ensures that all necessary information regarding each shipment is available in Navisphere. We utilize the information from Navisphere and other available sources to select the best contracted 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 contracted carrier’s commitment to provide the transportation. During the time when a shipment is executed, we connect frequently, either electronically or manually, with the contracted 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 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, our technology, our global suite of services, and available modes of transportation, 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. Our services to the customer may be priced on a spot market, or transactional basis, or prearranged contractual rates. Most of our contractual 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 that allow for fuel to primarily act as a pass-through cost, in addition to the underlying line-haul portion of the rate.

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

While 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 global basis that reduce or eliminate supply chain inefficiencies. We analyze customers’ current transportation rate structures, modes of shipping, and carrier selection. We identify opportunities to consolidate shipments for cost savings. We suggest ways to improve operating and shipping procedures and manage claims. We help customers minimize storage through crossdocking and other flow-through operations. Many of these services are provided in connection with providing the transportation services based on the nature of the customer relationship. In addition to these transportation services, we may also provide a wide range of value-added logistics services, such as freight consolidation, customs brokerage, supply chain consulting and analysis, emission analytics, optimization, and reporting, for which we are usually paid separately.

We have broadened our relationship with many of our customers through an emphasis on integrated logistics solutions, resulting in us managingour management of a greater portion of their supply chains. We often serve our customers through specially created teams and through multiple locations. Our transportation and logistics services are provided to numerous international customers through our worldwide network.

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;packaged, carefully transported within tight timetables, usually in temperature controlled equipment;temperature-controlled equipment, and quickly distributed to replenish high-turnover inventories maintained by our customers. In many instances, we consolidate an 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 nationally 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

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 and people on whom they can rely on.rely. During 2021,2022, we served approximately 100,000 customers worldwide, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to small businesses in a wide variety of industries. During 2021,2022, 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, our unique information advantage, and the range of logistics services that we can provide. We believe that our account management disciplines, expertise, and technology built by and for supply chain experts enable our employees to better serve our customers by combining a broad knowledge of logistics and market conditions with a deep, data-driven, understanding of the specific supply chain issues facing individual customers and certain vertical industries.

The transportation services industry is highly competitive and fragmented. We compete against many logistics companies, including technology-based service 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:

Most of our global network operates on a single global technology platform called Navisphere, thatwhich 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. Our technology and software platform is essential to serve our customers and contracted carriers and to manage our business. In 2021,2022, we executed approximately 20 million shipments for approximately 100,000 customers with approximately 85,00096,000 contracted carriers.

Navisphere and our other operational systems help our employees service customer orders, select the optimal mode of transportation, build and consolidate shipments, identify appropriate carriers, and manage exceptions, all based on customer-specific service parameters. Our data estate and scale providesprovide our organization with the necessary business intelligence to allow for the necessary decision support decision-making in all areas of our business.

We have committed to investing in our technology to bring the value of technology, data, and analytics to our customers, help solve their most complex logistics challenges, and drive the industry forward. With approximately 1,300 data scientists, engineers, and developers, we are continuing to invest in global talentmake smart, talent-focused investments globally in this critical area and building the next generation of tools and processes that will change how supply chains function.

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

In 2021,2022, we worked with approximately 85,00096,000 transportation providers worldwide, of which the vast majority of which are contracted motor carriers. To strengthen and maintain our relationships with contracted motor carriers, our employees regularly communicate with them and try to assist them by increasing their equipment utilization, reducing their empty miles, and repositioning their equipment. To make it easier for contracted motor carriers to work with us, we have a policy of making contracted motor carrier invoice paymentpayments upon receipt of proof of delivery in accordance with our standard payment terms. For those contracted motor carriers that would like a faster payment, we also offer expedited payment upon 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 contracted motor carriers are of all sizes, including owner-operators of a single truck, small and mid-size fleets, private fleets, and the largest national trucking companies. Consequently, we are not dependent on any one contracted motor carrier. Our largest truck transportation provider was less than two percent of our total cost of transportation in 2021.2022. Contracted motor carriers that had fewer than 100 trucks transported approximately 8280 percent of our truckload shipments in 2021.2022. Every United StatesU.S. and Canadian motor carrier we do business with is required to execute a contract that establishes the motor 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 StatesU.S. contracted motor carrier is properly licensed and insured, has the necessary federally-issued authority to provide transportation services, and can provide the necessary level of service on a dependable basis. Our motor carrier contracts require that the contracted 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 typically the initial contract rate is modified each time we confirm an individual shipment with a contracted motor carrier.

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.

Our operating results have been subject to seasonal trends as a result of, or as 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 operations may be regulated and licensed by various federal, state, and local transportation agencies in the United StatesU.S. 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 areC.H. Robinson is also licensed under, and subject to regulation by, the Federal Maritime Commission (“FMC”) as an ocean transportation intermediary in the capacity as both a freight forwarder and NVOCC; 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 (“IATA”) and federal regulations issued by the Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”). We provideC.H. Robinson performs customs brokerage services as apursuant to its customs broker under abrokerage license issued by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and(“CBP”). As a licensed customs broker, C.H. Robinson has experience working with other authoritative governmental agencies.government agencies that maintain jurisdiction over certain customs entries. We also havehold customs trade partnership against terrorism (“C-TPAT”) certification with CBP as both a customs broker and maintain other licenses as required by law.NVOCC.

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 contractually require and rely on the motor carrier transporting the shipment to ensure compliance with these types of requirements. We, along with the contracted motor carriers thaton which we rely on in arrangingto arrange 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 (“USDA”) as required by the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (“PACA”). Other sourcing and distribution activities may be subject to various federal and state food and drug statutes and regulations.

WeAs a publicly traded company and issuer of stock, we are subject to a variety of other U.S. and foreign lawsmaintain compliance with various anti-corruption and regulations including, but not limited to,anti-bribery statutes such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act 2010, and certain other similar anti-bribery and anti-corruption statutes.foreign countries' equivalent statutes or programs in the countries in which we operate.

We are subject to laws and regulations in the U.S. and other countries concerning the handling of personal information, including laws that require us to notify governmental authorities and/or affected individuals of data breaches involving certain personal information. These laws and regulations include, for example, the European General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act. Regulatory actions or litigation seeking to impose significant penalties could be brought against us in the event of a data breach or alleged non-compliance with such laws and regulations.

At C.H. Robinson, our employees literally connect the world.world and are at the core of our success. They are logistics experts and problem solvers, and they act as an extension of our customers' teams. In fact, our customers and contract carriers consistently cite our people as one of the top reasons they work with C.H. Robinson. Our talent strategy is built on our EDGE values: Evolve constantly,Constantly, Deliver excellence,Excellence, Grow together,Together, and Embrace integrity. Integrity. Our EDGE values are brought to life through our Leadership Principles: Adapt and Change, Constantly Innovate and Improve, Deliver Exceptional Results, Compete to Win, Value Differences, Inspire, Coach and Develop our People, and Think Like the Customer. Our Leadership Principles are unique to us and provide a shared understanding of what it means to lead at C.H. Robinson; they reinforce our culture and help drive exceptional results.

We attract, retain, and retain the rightreward exceptional talent by creating an inclusive, high-performing culture and engageengaging employees with meaningful work at a place where they belong, can grow, and are proud to work. We leverage the diverse perspectives backgrounds, and experiences of our global network of supply chain experts to create innovative solutions and better meet the needs of our customers, contract carriers, and growers.

We believe that fostering anFostering a diverse and inclusive equitable, and diverse workforce is core to our EDGE values as well as acompany values. It is imperative to our business imperative.and the right thing to do. The unique experiences and backgrounds of our peopleemployees create a stronger, more innovative and successful team. We bring our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion to life by integrating our DEI strategic pillars (workplace diversity, workforce inclusivity, partnerships, and accountability) across our talent strategies and into our business.

AsWe believe the way to make progress on our DEI initiatives is by taking a global company, we think broadly about DEI and value all dimensions of diversity. To help us evaluate progress against our strategy, we track a number ofshared approach to accountability. DEI metrics that are tracked and reviewed regularlyquarterly with senior leadership. This allows leaders to spot trends and reported to our senior leadership teams on a quarterly basis.act as needed. Additionally, we have identified aspirational goals to be met by 2025 that focus on hiring, retention, engagement, and leadership representation for women (globally) and people of color (U.S. only). We regularly assess our progress on these goals and will set new goals in the future as we achieve our objectives. Some of theseour DEI metrics are summarized below as of December 31, 2021.2022. Additional information can be found in our annual ESG report.

Our continued success depends on our ability to hireC.H. Robinson attracts, engages, and retain talented team members who can bring their unique backgrounds to work. To support our hiring processes,retains exceptional talent that represents the communities we develop a robust, diverse pipeline of qualified candidates, then collaborate across the organization to best understand our talent needs and place the right person in each role. We recognize that 2021 brought an increasingly tight talent market and a shift toward a more flexible workplace. To adapt to these changes, we are investing more inserve. Proven recruitment marketing added recruiter headcount, broadenedpractices are leveraged to increase talent brand awareness and drive high quality applicant flow. Our Leadership Principles are embedded in the recruitment process to help ensure new hires meet our talent searches geographically,expectations along with having the skills and increased passive candidate sourcing. We also enhanced our recruiting and hiring processesabilities to create an even more inclusive candidate experience and address any potential unconscious biases.perform the job.

Our employee turnover ratio, which is calculated as the number of employees who departed the Company in the 12 months ended December 31, 2021,2022, divided by the average number of employees in the 12 months ended December 31, 2021,2022, was 19 percent. Our employee turnover ratio is up from a historically low level in 2020 fueled by the pandemic, but is in line with pre-pandemic employee turnover rates. Current

Despite tight labor market conditions compound the impact ofin 2022, our turnover so to improve our retention rate we are addressingheld steady. We achieved this by focusing on the top reasons that employees stay,drivers of retention, including compensation, work-life balance, flexibility, DEI, andcompensation, career growth opportunities.opportunities and benefits.

We regularly survey our employees and engage in focus groups to better understand what our peopleemployees value and wherehow we can intentionally improvecontinuously enhance their experience. Over the past year, we’ve continued to hear that our employees value our flexible work options, the stability that comes with a 116 year-old company, and our support for their overall well-being. In our 2021 employeeOur 2022 engagement survey 81 percent of our employees scored favorable to feeling optimistic about the future of C.H. Robinson, exceeding the benchmark score by 6 percent. Our focus on DEI continues to build a greater sense of belonging in our workplace, which is seen through an increase in favorability in our 2021 survey responses. In addition, our focus on creating more transparency into career opportunities at C.H. Robinson is enabling more visibility to what’s possible for our employees. The 2021 survey indicatedgenerated a positive engagement score of 80 percent, which wasis consistent with benchmark companies.past years and is in the top third of all companies surveyed. Leadership continues to be a signature strength for C.H. Robinson. In this survey, manager effectiveness and manager relationship favorability scores surpassed the 75th percentile benchmark. The survey results indicated that employees feel supported by their managers in growing their careers, and they believe they can confide in their managers and that managers are doing a good job helping them prioritize their work. In addition, our focus on providing employees visibility to career opportunities at C.H. Robinson has increased those scores in 2021 and 2022, which is a driver of engagement for our employees and supports retention.

As new employees join C.H. Robinson, is a place where employees can develop their best selves while achieving their goals. New employees go through anthey are provided onboarding process that emphasizes the skills necessary to become productive employees, including technology training on our proprietary technology systems, and our customer service philosophy, as well as understandingand our company culture, and values. We continue to adapt our onboarding,values, DEI which includes unconscious bias training, and development programs to meet the needs of the business and adjust to the new hybrid workplace. We believe that continuous talent development and succession planning are critical to our success.Leadership Principles. Onboarding is followed by ongoing, on-the-job training and regular performance and career development conversations between employees and their managers. In 2021, approximately 98 percent of our workforce received regular performance and

Throughout an employee’s career development reviews.

At C.H. Robinson, we care about all areastake a comprehensive view on the importance of supporting our employees’ lives.health and well-being. Our total rewards strategies help employees improve their health, wealth, and self. We also established communication channels for employees to connect and stay informed on wellness topics, and we offer employee assistance programs and mental health resources. As we continue to navigate these unprecedented times through the COVID-19 pandemic, we have followed guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, World Health Organization, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure the safety of our people. Where the work allows, employees have the flexibility to work where they can be the most productive and safe.

The goals of our people.

Giving back to our communities and supporting non-profit organizations inspires and engages our employees and areis core to our culture. We proudly support our people, our industry and our communities around the world.world by providing philanthropic donations to causes that matter most to our employees. Through our company and the C.H. Robinson Foundation, we contributed nearly $3more than $4 million to more than 9001,100 charities in 2021. In 2021, approximately $1.3 million was donated through our employee match program, and our employees volunteered approximately 4,500 hours to help the causes they care about most.2022.

C.H. Robinson is committed to reducing our own environmental footprint, while helping to support sustainability efforts in our industry and for our customers. On a regular basis, we engage with our internal and external stakeholders to identify our priority ESG topics, including environmental sustainability. Our Chief Human Resources and ESG Officer and VPVice President of ESG provide annual updates to the Board of Directors and Governance Committee on our most critical ESG topics. The full results of these engagements and more information is available in our annual ESG report each year, which includes indices for the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.

In addition to tracking and managing our own environmental footprint, we leverage our scope, size, and scale to help customers meet their sustainability goals through tools like Emissions IQ™, which measures Scope 3 emissions from transportation, and by consulting on ways to optimize their supply chain and eliminate empty miles on the road in order to meet theirreduce emissions.

As a leader in our industry, we work to advance sustainability goals. Our ESG goalsefforts through collaborations with non-profit and accomplishments include:

Additional information about our human capital management and environmental sustainability initiatives, goals, and achievements is available in the ESG report available on our website; however, the ESG report is not incorporated by reference in, and areis not a part of, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Scott P. Anderson has been a Director of the company since 2012, including as Chairman of our Board of Directors from 2020 to 2022, and was namedappointed Interim Chief Executive Officer in Mayeffective January 1, 2023. Scott was a Senior Advisor to Patterson Companies, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDCO), a medical supply company, from June 2017 to June 2019. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Patterson Companies from 2010 to 2017. In April 2013, he was elected to the additional responsibility of Chairman of the Board. Prior to becoming CEO,2006, when he held the positions of Chief Operating Officer from February 2018 to May 2019,became President of NAST from January 2016 to December 2018,Patterson Dental Supply, Inc., Scott held senior management positions in the dental unit, including Vice President, of Truckload from January 2014 to December 2015,Sales, and Vice President, Marketing. Scott became a director of SourcingPatterson in 2010. He is a past chairman of the Dental Trade Alliance and Temperature Controlled Transportation from January 2013 to December 2014, and General Manager for the U.S. West Sourcing Region for the company’s Robinson Fresh division from 2003 to 2011. He began his career with C.H. Robinson in 1999 in the Corporate Procurement and Distribution Services office. Bob serveshas served on the Boardboard of Directors fordirectors of the Transportation Intermediaries Association andOrdway Theater. Scott is a trustee of Gustavus Adolphus College, where he serves as Chairman of the Winona StateBoard. Scott earned a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University, Foundation. Bob graduatedKellogg School of Management and his bachelor’s degree from Winona State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree.Gustavus Adolphus College.

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, Minnesota. He currently serves as a director on the board of Second Harvest Heartland. Ben holds a Bachelor of Science degree from St. John’s University and a Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law.

Angela K. Freeman was named Chief Human Resources Officer in January 2015, and in October 2019, also became ESG Officer. Prior to her current role, 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 presidentCommunications, and President of the C.H. Robinson Worldwide Foundation. In addition to her responsibilities at C.H. Robinson, Angie currently serves on the Board of Directors of The Shyft Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SHYF) and on the Board of the University of North Dakota Alumni Association & Foundation. Prior to joining C.H. Robinson in 1998, Angie was with McDermott/O’Neill & Associates, a Boston-based public affairs firm. Angie 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.

Arun Rajan was named Chief Operating Officer in October 2022 and leads the Product, Technology, Data Science, Analytics and Marketing organizations at C.H. Robinson. Arun joined the company as Chief Product Officer in JulySeptember 2021. Before comingPrior to C.H. Robinson,joining the company, Arun was the Chief Technology Officer of Whole Foods Market, part of Amazon, from September 2019 to July 2021. Arun also held leadership positions at Zappos, an online retail company, through its acquisition by Amazon, serving as Chief Operating Officer from April 2015 to August 2019, Acting Chief Operating Officer from September 2014 to 2019March 2015, and Chief Technology Officer from 2009 to 2013. Prior to Zappos, Arun's leadership roles included serving as the Chief Technology Officer of One Kings Lane in San Francisco, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of New York City’s Intent Media, Chief Technology Officer of Travelocity Europe and LastMinute.com in London, and Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of ITRadar.com in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Arun holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Pittsburgh State University and a Master of Science degree in Information Systems Management from the University of Arizona.

Michael J. Short was named President of Global Freight Forwarding in May 2015. Prior to this role, Mike served as Vice President, Global Forwarding - North America. He joined C.H. Robinson through the acquisition of Phoenix International (“Phoenix”(“Phoenix”) in 2012. PriorNovember 2012, prior to being named President, Mike served as Vice President, Global Forwarding - North America. Prior to joining C.H. Robinson,which, he held a number of roles at Phoenix, including Regional Manager, Sales Manager, and General Manager of the St. Louis, Missouri office. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from the University of Missouri.

Michael P. Zechmeister was named Chief Financial Officer in August 2019. Before coming to C.H. Robinson, Mike served as Chief Financial Officer of United Natural Foods, Inc., a food wholesaler, from September 2015 to August 2019. Prior to joining United Natural Foods, Inc., Mike spent 25 years at General Mills, Inc., holding a variety of leadership roles, including Vice President of Finance for the Pillsbury Division, Vice President of Finance for U.S. Retail Sales, and Treasurer. Mike holdsSince 2009, he has served as a Bachelordirector on the board of Science in Business degree fromadvisors for the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, and earnedfrom which he holds a MastersBachelor of Science in Business degree. Mike also holds a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

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, Proxy Statement, 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.

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, factors such as changes in economic conditions, including uncertain consumer demand; changes in market demand and pressures on the pricing for our services; fuel price increases or decreases, or fuel shortages; competition and growth rates within the global logistics industry; freight levels and increasing costs and availability of truck capacity or alternative means of transporting freight; risks associated with significant disruptions in the transportation industry; changes in relationships with existing contracted truck, rail, ocean, and air carriers; changes in our customer base due to possible consolidation among our customers; risks associated with reliance on technology to operate our business; cyber-security related risks; risks associated with operations outside of the United States;U.S.; our ability to successfully integrate the operations of acquired companies with our historic operations; risks related to our search for a permanent CEO and retention of key management personnel; climate change related risks; risks associated with our indebtedness; risk associated with interest rates; risks associated with litigation, including contingent auto liability and insurance coverage; risks associated with the potential impact of changes in government regulations; risks associated with the changes to income tax regulations; risks associated with the produce industry, including food safety and contamination issues; the impact of war on the economy; changes to our capital structure; changes due to catastrophic events including pandemics such as COVID-19,COVID-19; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in Item 1A, Risk Factors. 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.

The following are material factors that could affect our financial performance and could cause actual results for future periods to differ materially from our anticipated results or other expectations, including those expressed in any forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We may also refer to this disclosure to identify factors that may cause actual results to differ from those expressed in other forward-looking statements, including those made in oral presentations such as telephone conferences and webcasts open to the public.

As demonstrated by recent material and high-profile data security breaches, computer malware, viruses, computer hacking, and phishing attacks have become more prevalent, have occurred on our operating systems in the past, and may occur on our operating systems in the future. Previous attacks on our operating systems have not had a material financial impact on our operations, but we cannot guarantee that future attacks will have little to no impact on our business. Furthermore, given the interconnected nature of the supply chain and our significant presence in the industry, we believe that we may be an attractive target for such attacks. A loss for which we are not adequately insured could materially affect our financial results. The insurance coverage we currently have in place may not apply to a particular loss or it may not be sufficient to cover all liabilities to which we may be subject. A loss for which we are not adequately insured could materially affect our financial results.

Though it is difficult to determine what, if any, harm may directly result from any specific interruption or attack, a significant impact on the performance, reliability, security, and availability of our operating systems and technical infrastructure to the satisfaction of our users may harm our reputation, impair our ability to retain existing customers or attract new customers, and expose us to legal claims and government action, each of which could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

The occurrence or consequences of any of these factors may restrict our ability to operate in the affected region and/or decrease the profitability of our operations in that region.

As we continue to expand our business internationally, we expose the company to increased risk of loss from foreign currency fluctuations, as well as longer accounts receivable payment cycles. Foreign currency fluctuations could result in currency exchange gains or losses or could affect the book value of our assets and liabilities. Furthermore, we may experience unanticipated changes to our income tax liabilities resulting from changes in geographical income mix and changing international tax legislation. We have limited control over these risks, and if we do not correctly anticipate changes in international economic and political conditions, we may not alter our business practices in time to avoid adverse effects.

The cost of purchased transportation in the North American surface transportation market experienceddeclined significantly over the course of 2022 as excess carrier capacity combined with slowing demand led to softening market conditions. This compared to extremely tight carrier capacitymarket conditions in 2021 as strong demand combined with ongoingchallenges due to driver availability and supply chain disruptions caused by port congestion and weather events drove purchased transportation costs to historic levels. This comparedMany of these challenges improved over the course of 2022, allowing routing guides to an extremely volatileperform more efficiently, which resulted in a comparatively soft market in 2020 resulting from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions implemented to control the outbreak, which drove significant volatility in customer demand and carrier capacity.versus 2021. Industry freight volumes, as measured by the Cass Freight Index, increased approximately 13 percentwere flat in 2021 compared to 2020 and experienced growth in each quarter of 2021 compared to 2020. This2022, compared to a decline of approximately eight13 percent increase in 2020 compared to 2019 with significant volatility over the course of 2020.2021. One of the metrics we use to measure market conditions is the truckload routing guide depth from our Managed Services business. Routing guide depth is calculated asrepresents the average number of carriers contacted prior to acceptance when procuring a simple average of all accepted shipments over all tender instances for any shipment facilitated by our Managed Services business.transportation provider. The average routing guide depth at the end of 2022 declined to 1.2, representing that on average, the first carrier in a shipper's routing guide was 1.7executing the shipment in 2021 compared to 1.4 in 2020. Themost cases. This average routing guide depth increased steadily duringpenetration is reflective of a softening freight market compared to the 1.7 average at the end of 2021.

The cost of purchased transportation fell significantly in the global forwarding market in the second half of 20202022 as global demand slowed in most trade lanes. The peak shipping season historically experienced in the second half of each year, which would typically drive elevated rates and finishedvolumes, remained uncharacteristically soft. Shippers in linethe U.S. and Europe continue to struggle with those seen over the duration of 2021.

Our 20212022 surface transportation results were impacted bybenefited from the risingdeclining cost and price environment summarizedof purchased transportation over the course of the year, as periods where the cost of purchased transportation declines often result in the market trends section above. We did not, however, experience the significant year over year volume volatility seenimproved adjusted gross profits per shipment in the industryour portfolio. Industry freight volumes as measured by the Cass Freight Index. Industry freight volumes increased approximately 13 percentIndex were flat in 20212022 compared to a decline of eight percent in 2020.the prior year. Our combined NAST truckload and LTLless than truckload (“LTL”) volume increased 5.5decreased 1.0 percent in both 2021 and 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic had2022 compared to the prior year. As a significant impact on our small business customers in 2020 as our customer count decreased nearly 12 percent, driven almost entirely by small and emergingresult of the softening market customers. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have continued to work with our customers to meetconditions, our contractual commitments, which has resultedrates negotiated in a higher than normalprior quarters contributed to an increase in our adjusted gross profit per shipment and reduced the percentage of shipments with negative adjusted gross profit margins and less volatility in our combined NAST truckload and LTL volumes as compared to the Cass Freight Index. We have continued to reshape our portfolio by adapting our pricing to reflect the rising cost environment and participating to a greater extent in the spot market. The strong demand and tight carrier capacity conditions in 2021 resulted in ourmargins. Our average truckload linehaul cost per mile, excluding fuel costs, increasing 30.5 percent.surcharges, decreased approximately 7.5 percent during 2022. Our average truckload linehaul rate charged to our customers, excluding fuel surcharges, increaseddecreased approximately 29.04.0 percent during 2022.

Our 2022 Global Forwarding results were largely consistent with the trends discussed above in 2021.

The following summarizes select 20212022 year-over-year operating comparisons to 2020:2021:

Operating expenses in 2022 also included the prior year period.impact of organizational changes made to support our enterprise strategy of accelerating our digital transformation and productivity initiatives. In connection with these organizational changes, we recorded $21.5 million of personnel expense, primarily related to severance, and $15.2 million of other SG&A expenses, primarily due to the impairment of certain capitalized internally developed software projects as a result of these restructuring initiatives.