The shipping industry is comprised of various types of shippers, including small package carriers, less-than-a-load (“LTL”) carriers, and truck load carriers. Small package carriers usually transport packages or boxes from multiple consignors, while truck load carriers typically transport entire trailer loads from a single consignor. LTL carriers, on the other hand, generally transport freight that falls in between small packages and trailer loads. For example, LTL carriers may move freight from multiple consignees in a single trailer load, such as crates, scrap metal banded together, vehicle parts, pallets of boxes, drums, and the like. This freight is usually consolidated into a single trailer and transported through a carrier's transportation network. To track the freight and provide carrier personnel with routing and handling instructions, LTL carriers currently use paper bills of lading. The use of paper bills of lading decreases the efficiency and throughput of carrier transportation networks—relying almost solely on the efficiency of carrier employees—and does not provide for real-time visibility of freight progressing through a transportation network.
In addition to using paper bills of lading to track freight, LTL carriers often use the weight and shipping classifications on the bills of lading (provided by consignors) to appropriately charge consignors and/or consignees for transporting the freight. And although many carriers have internal audit mechanisms to verify the weight and shipping classifications provided on the bills of lading, the audit procedures are generally paper-driven and manual in nature. The paper-driven and manual nature of the current audit procedures limit the carriers' ability to efficiently and cost-effectively audit much of the freight they transport. For instance, carriers often have personnel who are specifically employed to audit freight shipments. Typically, the personnel manually verify the shipping classifications and weight provided on the bills of lading by personally inspecting the freight. This methodology usually enables carriers to only audit select freight shipments, leaving the majority of freight shipments unaudited and possibly incorrectly classified.