EDI 204 Motor Carrier Load Tender: Complete Guide

The EDI 204 is how a load gets offered to a truck. Whoever controls the freight, whether that is the shipper, a retailer moving collect freight, a broker or a 3PL, sends the carrier a 204 that says what needs to move, from where, to where, by when, and who pays. The carrier replies with a 990 Response to a Load Tender. A clean 204 gets a fast answer. A tender with the wrong stop order, a missing appointment or the wrong payment terms gets declined, or worse, accepted and run wrong.

This guide covers what the 204 carries, the segments you will map, a live three-stop truckload example, how the 204 relates to the 990, 211, 214 and 210, and the errors that cause missed pickups and billing disputes.

What Is an EDI 204?

An EDI 204 is the Motor Carrier Load Tender transaction set defined by ASC X12, used by a shipper or another party that controls the freight to offer a shipment to a full load (truckload) motor carrier, with the scheduling, equipment, commodities and instructions the carrier needs to decide whether to take it. The standard's purpose statement also says what it is not for: a less-than-truckload bill of lading, a pick-up notification or a manifest. It travels in functional group SM (the GS01 value), and most motor carrier tenders run on X12 release 004010.

Authoritative references for 204 work:

• The X12 transaction set catalog defines the 204 and its segment order, and Stedi's X12 004010 reference for the 204 shows every loop, segment and element by position
• The National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) issues the Standard Carrier Alpha Codes (SCACs) that name the carrier in B202
• Each shipper, retailer or broker publishes its own 204 implementation guide, which sets the references, date qualifiers and stop rules it sends

Who sends it? The party that controls and books the freight: a shipper on prepaid freight, a retailer or its logistics provider on collect freight, a freight broker, or a 3PL acting for its client.

Who receives it? The truckload carrier being offered the load. LTL freight is normally documented to the carrier with a bill of lading (on paper or as an EDI 211) and, for several shipments at once, a 215 pick-up manifest.

When is it sent? Once the freight has a ship date and before the carrier is needed at the dock. Many tenders also carry a deadline for the carrier's answer.

Why does it matter? The 204 is the carrier's work order. The stop sequence, appointment times and references on it are what the driver, the dispatcher and later the carrier's invoice run on.

What the 204 Carries

A load tender describes the whole move:

• The carrier and the shipment. The SCAC of the carrier being offered the load and the shipper's shipment or load number, which the carrier echoes on its 990, 214 and 210.
• Payment terms. Prepaid, collect or third party, so the carrier knows who it will bill.
• The purpose. An original tender, a change to an earlier one, or a cancellation.
• The stops. Every pickup and delivery in sequence, with addresses, the reason for each stop (load, part unload, complete unload), and the requested or scheduled dates and times.
• The freight. Weight, handling units, volume, commodity description and, when needed, hazardous materials details.
• The references. Purchase orders, bill of lading numbers, pickup and appointment numbers that tie the load back to the orders behind it.
• Equipment. Trailer type and length, temperature settings for refrigerated loads, and seal numbers, when the shipper specifies them.

The Tender Cycle: 204, 990 and What Follows

1. Shipper sends the 204. It is addressed to one carrier by SCAC, usually the first carrier on the shipper's routing guide for that lane.
2. Carrier returns a 997. That only confirms the 204 arrived and parsed. It is not an acceptance.
3. Carrier answers with a 990. Accept or decline, usually with the carrier's own reference number for the load.
4. On a decline, the shipper tenders the next carrier. Same load, new 204 to a different SCAC.
5. Changes and cancellations. If the load changes before pickup, the shipper sends another 204 with purpose code 04 (change) or 01 (cancellation) under the same shipment number.
6. The move. The shipper produces the bill of lading (paper, or an EDI 211), and the carrier reports progress with 214 shipment status messages.
7. The bill. The carrier invoices with a 210 Motor Carrier Freight Invoice that references the same shipment number.

On retail collect freight, the retailer often tenders the load to its carrier with a 204 and then tells the supplier which carrier is coming with a 754 Routing Instructions, the answer to the supplier's 753 routing request.

Interactive Example: 204 Multi-Stop Truckload Tender

This continues the story from our 754 routing instructions guide. The retailer has consolidated two of Lakeshore Home Goods' purchase orders onto one truckload, TL-90217, that picks up in Grand Rapids and delivers to two distribution centers. Before it sends the supplier the 754, it tenders the load to truckload carrier QTLX with this 204.

The heading carries the carrier, the load number and collect terms in B2, an original truckload tender in B2A, a deadline for the carrier's answer in G62, and the bill-to party. Then one S5 loop per stop: stop 1 loads all 670 cartons at the supplier, stop 2 drops one PO at DC 6025 (part unload), and stop 3 drops the rest at DC 6021 (complete unload). Each stop has its own POs, weights and scheduled time, and L3 totals the load. The sample uses X12 004010. All names, IDs and SCACs are fictional.

Use the Plain English tab for a readable summary, or click any segment to break it down element by element.

Note the stop numbering. The 754 for this load numbered the two deliveries 1 and 2 in its MSI segment, while the 204 numbers every stop, pickup included, so the same DCs are stops 2 and 3 here. Each document's own guide defines its numbering, so match stops on the location ID, not the sequence number.

204 Structure at a Glance

The table follows X12 004010, the release most 204 implementation guides use.

"Optional" in the standard often means "required" in a shipper's guide. Most guides require at least a pickup and a delivery S5 loop, each with an N1 location and a G62 date.

Key Segments Explained

B2: Beginning Segment for Shipment Information Transaction

B2**QTLX**TL-90217**CC~

B204 is the key that ties the whole freight cycle together. Keep it unique per load, never reuse it for a different shipment, and send the same value on every change or cancellation of that load.

B2A: Set Purpose

B2A*00*LT~

A change (04) usually resends the complete tender with the new values, not just the differences, but the shipper's guide decides. Carriers should treat a 01 as a release of the load and stop dispatch.

G62: Date/Time

G62*64*20261106*1*1000~
G62*69*20261113*U*0700~
G62*70*20261113*X*1200~

In the heading, a single G62 usually carries the respond-by deadline. In each stop, up to two G62s carry a date and a window or appointment. Requested and scheduled dates are different promises, so read the qualifiers your shipper's guide lists rather than assuming. Times without G6205 are normally local to the stop; confirm that in the guide before converting.

S5: Stop Off Details

S5*1*CL*11800*L*670*CT*1870*E~
S5*2*PU*7380*L*410*CT*1150*E~
S5*3*CU*4420*L*260*CT*720*E~

The S5 loop is the heart of the tender. Everything that follows an S5 until the next one belongs to that stop: its references, dates, weights, location and commodity lines. Watch out for PU: in the stop reason list it means part unload, not pickup.

L11: Business Instructions and Reference Number

L11*4500781302*PO~

At heading level, L11 carries load-wide references. Inside a stop, it says which POs and bills of lading are picked up or delivered there, which is what the dock and the receiving DC check against.

N1 Loop: Stop Location

N1*ST*BIG-BOX RETAILER DC 6025*92*6025~
N3*5500 LOGISTICS WAY~
N4*PLAINFIELD*IN*46168*US~

Inside each stop, the N1 loop names the location (SF ship from or SH shipper at a pickup, ST ship to or CN consignee at a delivery) with an ID the shipper assigns (N103 = 92). Carriers that run the same lanes often key their own location master on that ID, so keep it stable between tenders. The heading N1 loop carries load-level parties such as the bill-to (BT).

N7 Loop: Equipment Details

The N7 segment describes the equipment: N711 the equipment description code (for example TF dry freight trailer or RT reefer), N715 the length, and N713 the temperature control. N702 (equipment number) is mandatory within the segment, and a trailer number is rarely known at tender time, so guides differ on what to send there or whether to send N7 at all. The example above leaves equipment to an NTE instruction instead. Follow your shipper's guide.

L5 and AT8: Commodity, Weight and Handling Units

L5 describes the commodity: L502 the description, and L503 with L504 a commodity code and its qualifier (N for an NMFC item number). Weight does not live in L5. It lives in AT8 (AT801 weight qualifier, AT802 unit, AT803 weight, AT804 and AT805 loose and unitized handling units) and in the S5 weights.

L3: Total Weight and Charges

L3*11800*G*******1870*E*670*L~

L301 and L302 give the total weight and qualifier (G gross), L309 and L310 the volume, L311 the lading quantity, and L312 the weight unit. On a tender, L305 (charge) is usually empty, since the rate lives in the contract or the rate confirmation. Make sure L301 equals the sum of the pickup weights.

204 vs 990 vs 211 vs 215 vs 754

The 204 is a request; nothing is booked until the 990 accepts it. The 211 and 215 document what was actually handed over. The 754 is the retailer telling the supplier about a tender the supplier never sees.

Common 204 Errors and How to Prevent Them

204 Implementation Checklist

• Get each trading partner's 204 guide and confirm the X12 release (usually 004010) and GS01 = SM
• Agree what goes in B204 and which L11 qualifiers you send at load and stop level
• Map payment terms from your orders to B206
• Map stop reason codes and confirm how the partner numbers stops
• List the G62 date and time qualifiers you send and the time zone rule
• Decide how changes (04), replacements (05) and cancellations (01) work, and whether a change resends the full tender
• Decide what to send in the N7 loop, if anything
• Confirm the respond-by window and what happens when it passes
• Set up the 990 match on B102 (the carrier's echo of your B204) and alert on declines and missing answers
• Test a single-stop load, a multi-stop load, a change and a cancellation

Our EDI document types reference shows where the transportation sets sit next to order, ship notice and invoice documents, and the SCAC code glossary entry explains how carriers are identified.

Where OrderSync Fits

Every load tender starts with orders. The ship-to, the PO numbers, the quantities and the freight terms on a 204 all come from purchase orders that someone had to get into your ERP, whether they arrived as an EDI 850 or 875, a PDF, an email or a spreadsheet. If an order was keyed wrong, the tender carries the mistake to the carrier.

OrderSync reads those inbound orders in any format, matches customers, items and units to your catalog, and outputs clean ERP data or valid X12, so your shipping and transportation systems start from accurate orders. Paste any 204 into the free EDI inspector to see it parsed segment by segment with a plain-English summary, or book a 15-minute walkthrough to see your own orders processed.

Frequently Asked Questions