Have you ever wondered how truckload carriers stack up against parcel carriers in the notification of a shipments in-route status?   Actually, they can and do provide more precise information when it’s important to do so.  Whereas parcel carriers typically focus on the time/date a package is shipped or when it arrives or departs one of their facilities, truckload carriers are more focused on the pickup and delivery of a full truckload.  The value of the truckload is usually far higher than a single package and the route is rarely to a home address, but rather a plant or distribution facility.

Truckload carriers have learned over time how to provide quality status reporting because of the importance to do so.  Most of these type carriers have either satellite tracking units or some kind of cellular communications.   With these tools, they connect to the home office on a frequent basis the date/time of pickups and deliveries, plus in-route status every few minutes.

This data is collected in the carriers dispatch system, then made available to the shipping customer via the EDI 214 transaction.  The question then becomes, how much data does the shipper want?  Does it really make sense to keep on record in every transportation management system (TMS) that receives 214 data, the minute by minute location of their shipment?  Probably not, unless it’s a really high value shipment.   So the amount of in-route data is typically paired down to every couple of hours or maybe twice a day.  On occasions, when the status reporting data is not enough, the phone is still a reliable means to track that critical shipment that has to get there on time.   Truckload carriers provide customer service just like parcel carriers.

What is important to note is that truckload carriers with reasonably good dispatch systems, can and do provide very accurate and up-to-the-minute status on a shipment.