Use in Claude
FreightUtils works in Claude as a connector. Ask a freight question and Claude calls these tools for the figure — cubic metres and loading metres, air chargeable weight, an ADR dangerous-goods check, an HS code or a UK duty estimate, an airline, airport or location code — and names the source behind the answer. All 25 tools are read-only: none books, files, pays for or changes anything.
In claude.ai, the desktop app, mobile or Cowork: open Customize → Connectors, choose Add custom connector and paste this URL. No account, no sign-in, no API key.
Or add FreightUtils from Claude's connector directory — the same server and the same 25 tools, added in one click.
In Claude Code:
- Freight calculations
- cbm_calculator · chargeable_weight_calculator · ldm_calculator · pallet_fitting_calculator · consignment_calculator · shipment_summary · unit_converter · emissions_calculator
- Dangerous goods by road (ADR 2025)
- adr_lookup · adr_exemption_calculator · adr_lq_eq_check
- Customs and trade
- hs_code_lookup · uk_duty_calculator · incoterms_lookup · ics2_check
- Codes, places and equipment
- airline_lookup · airport_lookup · nearest_airport · unlocode_lookup · container_lookup · uld_lookup · vehicle_lookup · validate · resolve_reference
- Plans
- get_subscribe_link
- Calls from claude.ai, the desktop and mobile apps and Cowork reach FreightUtils from Anthropic's network, so they share one allowance: 5,000 tool calls a day across all Claude users, resetting at 00:00 UTC, and 1,200 connection requests a minute. Connecting and listing the tools never uses it.
- When the shared allowance is used up, Claude is told so and that it resets at 00:00 UTC.
- Claude Code connects from your own computer, so it gets your address's own allowance: 25 tool calls a day.
- With a FreightUtils API key, send it as an
X-API-Keyheader and your key's own limits apply wherever you call from (see Rate limits & API keys below).
A tool call carries only the tool's own inputs — dimensions, codes, quantities, a goods description, coordinates. They go to www.freightutils.com, are used to compute the answer and are not stored. The one onward lookup is a UK duty estimate, for which our server asks the public GOV.UK Trade Tariff about the commodity code — the code and nothing else. FreightUtils receives no Claude account details, no name or email and none of your conversation. Calls through Claude arrive from Anthropic's addresses, so the address FreightUtils sees is Anthropic's, not yours. Full policy: freightutils.com/privacy.
Answers are reference information with their source named — not legal, customs or dangerous-goods compliance advice; check the source before acting on one. Questions or problems: contact@freightutils.com.
Connect your agent
Two transports, one tool set. Run the npm package locally over stdio, or point any MCP-over-HTTP client at the remote URL — both serve the same 25 tools.
claude_desktop_config.json, then fully quit and relaunch the client:mcp.json file (Settings → MCP). Same shape as Claude Desktop:Verify the surface is live before asking your agent anything — the endpoint is public, rate-limit exempt, and callable by the agent itself for a self-diagnostic:
A 200 with "status":"ok" and "tools_registered":25 means every tool is registered and reachable.
All 25 tools
Every tool is the same engine behind the corresponding REST endpoint and website page — one implementation, three surfaces. Names below are the exact MCP tool identifiers.
Calculators (9)
- ldm_calculatorCalculate loading metres (LDM) for European road freight — how much trailer length a pallet load occupies.LDM Calculator tool page →
- cbm_calculatorCalculate cubic metres (CBM) for a shipment from per-piece dimensions.CBM Calculator tool page →
- chargeable_weight_calculatorCalculate air freight chargeable weight — the greater of actual gross weight and volumetric weight, which is what airlines bill.Chargeable Weight tool page →
- pallet_fitting_calculatorCalculate how many identical boxes fit on a pallet: boxes per layer (trying 90-degree rotation when allowed), layer count within the max height, totals, footprint and volume…Pallet Fitting tool page →
- container_lookupGet ISO shipping-container specifications, with optional load-fit maths.Container Capacity tool page →
- unit_converterConvert freight and logistics units: weight (kg, lbs, oz, tonnes, short_tons, long_tons), volume (cbm, cuft, cuin, litres, gal_us, gal_uk), length (cm, inches, m, feet, mm), plus…Unit Converter tool page →
- consignment_calculatorCalculate per-line and grand totals for a multi-item mixed consignment: CBM, loading metres (LDM), volumetric weight, and the mode-specific chargeable figure (air chargeable…Consignment Calculator tool page →
- shipment_summaryComposite shipment analysis in one call: volume (CBM), gross and chargeable weight, road LDM with pallet spaces and a vehicle suggestion (road mode), volumetric weight (air)…API & MCP only — no page
- emissions_calculatorEstimate freight transport greenhouse-gas emissions (kgCO2e) for a shipment leg, per ISO 14083:2023 / GLEC Framework v3.2: emissions = mass x distance x a published…Emissions Calculator tool page →
Reference & compliance lookups (15)
- adr_lookupLook up European road dangerous-goods (ADR 2025) reference data for a substance: hazard class, classification code, packing group, labels, special provisions, limited/excepted…ADR Dangerous Goods tool page →
- adr_exemption_calculatorCalculate ADR 1.1.3.6 "small load" exemption points for a dangerous-goods load and say whether it qualifies.ADR Exemption Calculator tool page →
- adr_lq_eq_checkCheck whether dangerous goods qualify for ADR Limited Quantity (LQ, ADR 3.4) or Excepted Quantity (EQ, ADR 3.5) relief.ADR LQ/EQ Check tool page →
- hs_code_lookupSearch 6,940 WCO Harmonized System (HS 2022) commodity codes — the 6-digit international customs classification layer.HS Code Lookup tool page →
- incoterms_lookupLook up the 11 Incoterms 2020 trade rules — who pays for transport, insurance and customs clearance, and where risk transfers from seller to buyer.INCOTERMS 2020 tool page →
- uk_duty_calculatorEstimate UK import duty and VAT for a commodity code using the LIVE GOV.UK Trade Tariff — rates are fetched per request, not from a static table.UK Duty & VAT tool page →
- airline_lookupSearch 6,357 airlines by name, IATA code, ICAO code, AWB prefix, or country.Airline Codes tool page →
- unlocode_lookupSearch 116,232 UN/LOCODE transport locations worldwide — ports, airports, rail and road terminals, inland container depots and border crossings.UN/LOCODE tool page →
- uld_lookupLook up air-cargo ULD (Unit Load Device) specifications — 16 types spanning lower-deck containers (AKE/LD3 and family), main-deck pallets (PMC, PAG and family) and temperature-controlled units.ULD Types tool page →
- vehicle_lookupLook up road-freight vehicle and trailer specifications — 17 types: EU articulated trailers (standard/mega curtainsider, box, reefer, double-deck, flatbed, low-loader), US…Vehicle Types tool page →
- validateValidate and parse freight identifiers by their public check-digit algorithms: shipping container numbers (ISO 6346), air waybill (AWB) numbers (IATA modulus-7) and IMO ship identification numbers.Identifier Validator tool page →
- ics2_checkCheck a goods description against the official EU ICS2 stop-words list — terms the European Commission deems too vague or generic for an entry summary declaration (ENS)…ICS2 Stop-Words Checker tool page →
- airport_lookupLook up an airport by IATA code (3 letters, e.g. "LHR"), ICAO code (4 chars, e.g. "EGLL"), or free-text name/city search (e.g. "heathrow").Airport Code Lookup tool page →
- nearest_airportFind the airports nearest to a caller-provided latitude/longitude, sorted by great-circle (haversine) distance with distance_km on each result.API & MCP only — no page
- resolve_referenceResolve an arbitrary freight identifier — one opaque string in, typed and cited candidates out.API & MCP only — no page
MCP-only (1)
- get_subscribe_linkReturn the FreightUtils pricing page URL with the Pro plan's request limit (50,000 per month) and price.Pricing →
Typed responses an agent can cite
Every tool publishes a typed outputSchema and returns structuredContent in the FreightUtils v1 response envelope: the result itself, a confidence assessment, a _source block naming the authority and edition behind the answer, and a ready-made citation string. An agent doesn't just get a number — it gets a number it can attribute.
{
"result": { /* the tool's typed answer */ },
"confidence": { "level": "high", "basis": "provenance" },
"_source": { "authority": "UNECE ADR 2025", "source_url": "…" },
"citation": "UNECE ADR 2025, via freightutils.com"
}The envelope is assembled by the API itself — not reconstructed client-side — so the npm package, the remote URL and the REST API all return the identical contract. As of v2.22.2, every successful tool call costs exactly one HTTP request against your rate limit.
Rate limits & API keys
The npm package passes your key through on every call — set the FREIGHTUTILS_API_KEY environment variable in your MCP client config. On the remote URL, send it as an X-API-Key (or Authorization: Bearer) header. Plans and pricing: freightutils.com/pricing.
What AI agents can do with it
What is a freight MCP server?
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI agents call external tools the way applications call APIs. An MCP server publishes a set of tools — each with a name, a description and typed input/output schemas — and any MCP-capable client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, agent frameworks, workflow platforms) can discover and invoke them mid-conversation. A freight MCP server puts freight domain knowledge behind that interface: instead of a language model guessing at an ADR tunnel code or approximating a chargeable-weight calculation from training data, the agent calls a deterministic tool and gets the actual figure, computed the way the industry computes it.
Neutrality is what makes the answers worth citing. FreightUtils has no freight to sell and no carrier to push, so a lookup returns what the source says — UNECE ADR 2025 for dangerous goods, WCO HS 2022 for commodity codes, the live GOV.UK Trade Tariff for UK duty, UN/LOCODE for locations, DEFRA/EPA/ADEME factors for emissions — with the authority and edition named in every response. When an agent's answer feeds a quote, a booking decision or a compliance check, “where did this number come from?” must have an answer, and the envelope carries it on every call.
The boundary is deliberate: reference data and deterministic calculations only. This server does not book freight, file declarations, track shipments, rate carriers, or make legal determinations — it is the neutral reference layer underneath the systems and people who do. Classification, documentation and carrier acceptance remain the operator's responsibility; the tools tell you what the sources say, and cite them.
Where it's listed
Prefer plain REST?
Every tool is also a documented REST endpoint — parameters, examples and the OpenAPI 3.1.0 spec.