Carriers and freight transportation
Tenders, bookings, status, delivery evidence and invoices still move through email, portals and re-keying. ECOM connects your TMS, ERP and WMS to the carriers, brokers, forwarders and customers you trade with across road, rail, ocean, air, intermodal and cross-border freight, so partners are onboarded with less manual coordination and exceptions reach the right owner.
Modes
Each page covers its own documents, workflow and exceptions. The messages differ by mode, so none is treated as a variant of another.
Truckload tenders, acceptances, status and invoices, plus LTL, parcel and last-mile workflows.
Typical messages X12 204, 990, 214, 210, 997 or 999; APIs where partners offer them.
Bookings, master and house waybills, acknowledgments, handling milestones and billing.
Typical messages IATA Cargo-XML and Cargo-IMP; X12 110 where used; partner APIs.
Shipper-facing instructions, railroad-to-railroad interchange, carload and intermodal events.
Typical messages X12 404, 417, 418, 421, 322 and 410, per railroad.
Bookings, shipping instructions, VGM, terminal and container events, release, empty return and invoices.
Typical messages X12 300, 301, 304, 315, 310; EDIFACT and DCSA equivalents.
Correlation and tracking across truck, rail and ocean legs, with documents and exception ownership.
Typical messages X12 204, 990, 214, 322, 404, 300, 315, 410; partner formats.
Data preparation, X12 and EDIFACT transmission, broker status and supported ACE and ISF workflows.
Typical messages X12 309, 350, 355; EDIFACT CUSDEC, CUSRES; commercial and transport documents.
Carrier and freight transportation integration connects the systems of shippers, carriers, brokers and forwarders so that shipment instructions, acceptances, movement updates, delivery evidence and invoices flow between them without manual re-keying. It is built on EDI (for example ANSI X12 and UN/EDIFACT), APIs and file exchange, and the messages differ by mode: truckload uses different documents than rail, ocean or air cargo, and each trading partner publishes its own requirements.
Benefits
Less re-keying between your systems and your partners, and a clear owner when something goes wrong.
Tenders, bookings, status and invoices move between systems instead of through e-mail, portals and re-keying.
ECOM’s self-service Trading Partner Onboarding portal offers click-through onboarding, protocol-specific setup and automated transaction testing, which reduce the coordination and manual testing that each new carrier normally needs.
Movement events and delivery evidence reach the teams that need them, in the systems they already use.
Late, rejected, missing and mismatched items are raised with an owner and the information needed to resolve them.
You receive tenders, bookings and instructions from many shippers, brokers and forwarders, each with its own onboarding and testing requirements, and report status, evidence and invoices back.
You sit between shippers and carriers across several modes, exchanging instructions, status and invoices in both directions and coordinating handoffs and exceptions.
You tender freight, need consistent status and delivery evidence from every carrier, and audit invoices against what was moved, including cross-border and intermodal moves.
Shipment lifecycle
Most freight moves pass through the same six stages, but the exact sequence and the messages vary by mode. A truckload tender, a rail bill of lading, an ocean booking and an air waybill all start a shipment differently, and some stages are merged or skipped.
Each partner is set up for the connection method and protocol it requires, and its transactions are tested before the first shipment.
The shipper or its agent sends instructions: a load tender by road, a bill of lading by rail, a booking by ocean or air.
The carrier accepts, confirms or rejects, and the acceptance is matched to the original shipment.
Pickup, transit, handoff and arrival events update the shipper’s and customer’s systems.
Delivery is confirmed and proof of delivery, signatures and any damage or shortage reports are captured with the shipment.
The carrier invoices, the invoice is compared with the shipment, and exceptions at any stage are routed and resolved.
Typical requirements—confirm with your trading partner.
| Code | Document | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 204 | Motor Carrier Load Tender | Offers a truckload to a motor carrier. |
| 404 | Rail Carrier Shipment Information | Tenders a shipment to a rail carrier. |
| 300 | Reservation (Booking Request) (Ocean) | Requests an ocean booking. |
| 322 | Terminal Operations and Intermodal Ramp Activity | Reports ramp and terminal activity. |
Intermodal
A container moving truck to rail to truck, or truck to ocean to truck, has several carriers and systems on one shipment. ECOM fully supports correlation and tracking across those legs, so the move stays one shipment instead of several disconnected ones.
The dray is tendered with the shipment reference and the container or equipment details, and the carrier responds and reports pickup.
The rail or ocean carrier receives instructions with the same references; ramp or terminal events report the ingate and movement.
Arrival and availability events tell the next carrier the container can be picked up, once any holds are cleared.
The last dray delivers, the consignee signs and the proof of delivery, with any damage or shortage report, is kept with the shipment.
The references matched and the events tracked across the legs are set per engagement.
Onboarding
Freight Onboarding is ECOM’s freight and carrier onboarding offering. The self-service Trading Partner Onboarding portal, which supports almost all verticals, offers click-through onboarding, protocol-specific setup and automated transaction testing.
The self-service portal supports almost all verticals, so carriers and other trading partners can work through setup themselves instead of waiting for a call or an e-mail thread.
ECOM customers get click-through onboarding with protocol-specific setup and automated transaction testing, so each partner is set up for the connection method it uses.
The customer starts onboarding for a carrier or trading partner and records its connection details.
The customer’s team follows the click-through steps, or the trading partner works through setup on its own in the self-service portal.
Protocol-specific setup covers the configuration for the connection method chosen.
Test transactions are exercised automatically instead of by e-mail and phone coordination between the customer and each partner.
This journey is typical. The steps that apply, the protocols used and the timing depend on the partner and the scope.
ECOM offerings
Moving the message is only part of freight automation. Freight Onboarding and Trading Partner Onboarding set a partner up, the Systems Integrator moves its data between your systems, the Exception Management Center handles what goes wrong, the Transaction Life Cycle Manager keeps the paperwork and evidence, and Reconcile360 automates invoice-to-cash.
Bring carriers and freight partners live
Freight Onboarding is ECOM’s freight and carrier onboarding offering, for bringing carriers and other freight partners live.
Self-service onboarding for almost all verticals
ECOM’s self-service Trading Partner Onboarding portal supports almost all verticals, including freight partners.
Invoice-to-cash automation
Reconcile360 provides invoice-to-cash automation across all verticals, including air and ocean partners.
Connect your TMS, ERP and WMS
The ECOM Systems Integrator connects TMS, ERP and WMS platforms so shipment data moves between them and your trading partners. Hundreds of customers use it today.
Handle exceptions and manage SLAs
The ECOM Exception Management Center helps customers automate exception handling and manage internal and customer-facing service levels (SLAs).
Keep paperwork and evidence with the shipment
The ECOM Transaction Life Cycle Manager holds shipment paperwork and supporting evidence, including proof of delivery, signatures, damage reports and shortage reports.
Which offerings apply, and the systems, partners and protocols in scope, are agreed with you during discovery.
Guides
FAQs
This hub covers road freight and trucking, rail freight, ocean freight, air cargo, intermodal transportation and customs and cross-border process automation. ECOM fully supports intermodal correlation and tracking across legs. The messages, partners and scope for each mode are agreed during discovery.
Reconcile360 provides invoice-to-cash automation across all verticals, including air and ocean partners. Its product page describes cash application and three-way matching.
Freight Onboarding is ECOM’s freight and carrier onboarding offering. Trading Partner Onboarding is a self-service portal for almost all verticals, with customer click-through onboarding, protocol-specific setup and automated transaction testing. Which applies to your project is agreed during scoping.
Yes. A carrier must set up its own side of the connection, and automated transaction testing reduces the manual coordination around it.
No. Truckload typically uses the X12 204, 990, 214 and 210; rail uses documents such as the 404 and 410; ocean uses messages such as the 300, 301, 304 and 315 or EDIFACT and DCSA equivalents; air cargo uses IATA Cargo-XML and other messages. Typical requirements—confirm with your trading partner.
The ECOM Systems Integrator connects TMS, ERP and WMS platforms, and ECOM performs these integrations for customers today. Support for your specific products and versions is confirmed during scoping.
No. Freight Onboarding, Trading Partner Onboarding, Reconcile360, systems integration, exception management and transaction life cycle management work together as needed, and which ones apply to your project is agreed during scoping.
ECOM supports transmission of all EDI X12 and EDIFACT transaction types, including 309, 350, 355, CUSDEC and CUSRES, and exchanges status with brokers. Partners require different subsets, and partner-specific maps are scoped per project.
ECOM has capabilities to support ACE and ISF workflows and is not ACE- or ISF-certified. Filing responsibility stays with the customer, broker, carrier or authorized filer; ECOM integrates and automates the data exchange around the filing.
No. ECOM integrates the transportation, enterprise and warehouse systems you already run and automates the surrounding data exchange, including customs data exchange with your broker.
Before you call
None of this is required. Your partners, your systems and the problem you want to solve are enough to start.
Tell us your transportation modes, trading partners and systems, and where onboarding, status or exceptions cost you time. You do not need a complete specification to start.
