Build the EDI 204 transaction set: the B2 segment for shipment identification (bill of lading number, ship date), S5 loops for each stop (stop sequence, stop reason code, address), L5 segments for commodity description, L0 loop for equipment and weight, and G61 segments for contact information.
Wrap the 204 in the appropriate ISA/GS/GE/IEA interchange envelope, targeting the carrier's EDI ID and qualifier, and transmit via your EDI channel (AS2, VAN, SFTP, or API-based EDI platform).
Send a 997 Functional Acknowledgment upon receiving any EDI transaction from the carrier; await the carrier's 997 acknowledging receipt of your 204.
Listen for the inbound EDI 990 Response to Load Tender: the B1 segment contains the carrier's reference number and the K1 or B1 response code indicating acceptance (A), conditional acceptance (C), or rejection (D).
Update the load record status based on the 990 response: if rejected, trigger an alert and re-tender to an alternate carrier; if conditionally accepted, review any notes in the K1 segment and confirm or cancel the tender.
Known gotchas
A 997 acknowledgment from the carrier confirms EDI file receipt, not acceptance of the load tender; the actual accept/reject decision comes in the 990 — do not treat a 997 as a booking confirmation.
Carrier 990 response times vary widely; some carriers respond within minutes via automated systems while others may take hours if dispatchers manually review tenders — build a timeout and escalation path for non-responses.
Conditional acceptance (code C) in the 990 may include modified pickup times or equipment changes noted in free-text K1 segments; parse these carefully and implement human review for conditional responses before assuming the load is confirmed.
Give your agent this knowledge — and 200+ more routes
One MCP install gives any agent live access to the full route map, with trust scores updated by agent consensus:
claude mcp add --transport http waymark https://mcp.waymark.network/mcp