Shipment lifecycle

Statuses#

How the status changes#

The status follows the milestones on its own. You don't have to update it.

• The first sign that the truck is on its way (leaving the pickup, or reaching a later stop) moves the shipment to In transit.
• When the truck reaches the last stop, the shipment page shows At delivery next to the status.
• Delivered comes from a delivery milestone at the last stop. Leaving the delivery site counts, even before a proof of delivery arrives.
• Each stop shows when the truck actually arrived and departed, in the stop's local time.
• If a milestone is corrected or withdrawn (for example, the truck only drove past), the status and the stop times follow the correction. A cancelled or closed shipment never changes.
• Every change is recorded in the shipment's history, with the milestone that caused it.

Milestones and sources#

Each change is recorded as a milestone on the shipment's timeline, with its time and its source. When two sources disagree, Shipment Insight keeps the most reliable one and records the other for reference.

ELD

The truck's electronic logging device. Usually the most frequent and accurate position source.

Carrier API

Status and positions sent directly by the carrier's system.

EDI 214

The standard shipment status message. Reliable for milestones, but less frequent.

Driver app

Positions from the driver's phone, with the driver's consent, only while the shipment is active.

The milestone timeline#

On a shipment's page, Milestones shows each stop with when the truck arrived and departed, the source (for example Geofence, ELD or EDI) and the confidence. A milestone marked derived from positions was worked out from the truck's movements rather than reported by someone.

• When a better source corrects a milestone, the new one is shown and the old one is kept under earlier versions. Open it to see what changed.
• A milestone that turned out to be wrong (for example the truck only drove past the facility) is Withdrawn.
• Time unknown means the event surely happened (for example the truck left, so it must have arrived) but nobody reported the time.
• Before the first event, the timeline says No milestones recorded yet.

When tracking starts after pickup#

Sometimes tracking only starts once the truck is already on the road, for example when the driver app is set up after loading. If your company turns on pickup upon tracking, Shipment Insight records the pickup as soon as the first positions show the truck away from the pickup and heading to the next stop.

• The departure shows as Departed pickup with the note Picked up (inferred: tracking started after pickup, truck heading to destination). Its time is marked estimated time: it's when tracking started, so the truck left then or earlier.
• The shipment moves to In transit, as with any departure from the pickup.
• A truck still on its way to the pickup never counts, even when the pickup is on the road to the destination. Neither does a truck that isn't moving.
• If a real pickup event arrives later (geofence, carrier status, EDI), it replaces the inferred one, which stays under earlier versions. If you record the pickup yourself, yours wins.

Mark a load as delivered#

If the delivery wasn't reported (for example the truck has no tracking at the last stop, or the receiver confirmed by phone), you can record it yourself. On the shipment page, select Mark as delivered.

1. Step 1Check the Delivery time. It's now by default, in the time zone the page shows the last stop's times in. Change it if the load was delivered earlier.
2. Step 2Add a Note if it helps, for example who signed for it.
3. Step 3Select Mark as delivered. A banner confirms it, and the status changes to Delivered in a moment.

• The delivery is recorded at the last stop, as a milestone with you as the source. It shows in Milestones like any other.
• You need permission to edit shipments. It isn't available on a load shared with you, or while staff view your company for support.
• The button isn't shown once the load is delivered, closed or cancelled.
• The time can't be in the future or before the truck left the pickup. How far back you can go is a setting per company.
• Submitting twice records the delivery once.

Geofences and nearby stops#

Arrivals and departures are recorded when the truck enters or leaves a geofence: a circle around each stop (500 m by default). A departure counts only once the truck is a little further out (100 m by default), so a truck waiting at the gate doesn't flicker in and out.

When two stops of the same shipment are close, their circles would overlap and the milestones could come out of order. Shipment Insight makes them smaller:

• Each stop's zone (the circle plus the departure margin) is limited to 40% of the distance to the nearest other stop, so two neighbouring zones never overlap. The circle and the margin shrink together.
• A zone never shrinks below 75 m.
• Stops less than 150 m apart count as the same place (for example a round trip that ends where it started) and keep their normal size.
• Only circles shrink. A facility with its own drawn outline keeps it.
• Example: for two stops 1 km apart, each circle is about 333 m instead of 500 m.

When you place two stops this close on New shipment or Edit shipment, the form shows the reduced size. It's only a notice: you can still save.

Zone sizes are settings per company, facility and stop. Ask your Shipment Insight contact to change them.

Predicted arrival and risk#

Each active shipment has a predicted arrival and a risk score: the chance it misses its appointment. The score always comes with the reasons behind it, such as remaining driver hours, a traffic incident or a slow pickup. See Reading a predicted arrival.

Shipment codes and links#

Every shipment is labelled with your own reference, such as the load number. It also gets a short shipment code of 10 letters and digits, for example K7Q2M9XD4R, shown in small type next to the reference. The code is what appears in the shipment's address: /shipments/K7Q2M9XD4R.

Codes are random and unique, so a link always opens the right shipment, even when two companies use the same load number. Codes ignore case, and the look-alike letters I, L and O read as 1, 1 and 0.

Create a shipment#

Shippers and brokers with permission to edit shipments can create one in the console: Shipments → New shipment.

1. Step 1Enter the Reference (your load number).
2. Step 2Click the map to place the Pickup, then click again to place the Delivery. Drag a pin to adjust it, or use Use my location as pickup.
3. Step 3Check the pickup and delivery windows. They're in your time zone and start from now by default.
4. Step 4Pick the Carrier and enter the Truck or device ID that sends positions (for example a Traccar Client device ID or a unit number).
5. Step 5Select Create shipment. The shipment page opens.

Tracking starts on its own: once the shipment has a carrier and a truck or device ID, positions from that truck or device inside the pickup-to-delivery window are linked to it. The shipment page and the live map refresh by themselves, and the blue trail shows the positions received while the page is open.

Edit a shipment#

On a shipment you own, select Edit to change the reference, drag the pickup or delivery pin, rename a stop, change the windows, the carrier, the truck or device ID, or the priority. Then select Save changes.

• Tracking follows the change: a new truck or device ID is linked to the load for its whole pickup-to-delivery window, including positions it already sent.
• If someone else changed the load while you were editing, nothing is overwritten: reload the page and make your change again.
• The shipment page shows who edited it last and when. Shared loads are read-only: only the owner can edit them.

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