EDI 211 Motor Carrier Bill of Lading: Complete Guide

The EDI 211 is the bill of lading as data. The bill of lading is the shipment's receipt, its contract of carriage, and the document the carrier rates the freight from. On paper, the dock fills it in and the driver signs it. With a 211, the same content reaches the carrier's system directly from the shipper's, so the PRO, weights, classes and consignee the carrier bills from are the ones the shipper recorded.

This guide covers what the 211 carries, the segments you will map, a live LTL example, how the 211 relates to the 204, 215, 856 and 210, and the errors that turn into reweighs, reclasses and rebills.

What Is an EDI 211?

An EDI 211 is the Motor Carrier Bill of Lading transaction set defined by ASC X12, used by a shipper, or another party responsible for contracting with a motor carrier, to provide a legal bill of lading for a shipment. The standard's purpose statement also says what it is not for: a load tender, a pick-up manifest or appointment scheduling. Those are the 204, the 215 and other sets. The 211 travels in functional group BL (the GS01 value) and most carrier guides use X12 004010.

Authoritative references for 211 work:

• The X12 transaction set catalog defines the 211 and its segment order, and Stedi's X12 004010 reference for the 211 shows every loop, segment and element by position
• The National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) issues the SCAC that names the carrier in BOL01 and publishes the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC), the source of the freight classes LTL carriers rate on
• Each carrier publishes its own 211 guide with the references, codes and cutoff times it needs

See our bill of lading glossary entry for the legal roles a BOL plays.

Who sends it? The shipper, or the 3PL or warehouse shipping on its behalf.

Who receives it? The motor carrier, most often an LTL carrier.

When is it sent? At or close to pickup. The standard's note on BOL04 describes it as the date the carrier picked up the freight, so many shippers send the 211 when the trailer is loaded or the driver signs.

Why does it matter? LTL carriers rate from the bill of lading: weight, class, handling units, terms and accessorials. When the BOL is keyed by hand at the dock, its errors show up later on the freight bill.

What the 211 Carries

• The carrier, the BOL number and the terms. The SCAC, the shipper's bill of lading number, prepaid or collect, the pickup date and, if the shipper uses pre-assigned PRO labels, the carrier's PRO number.
• The parties. Shipper, consignee and, on collect or third-party freight, the bill-to.
• References. Purchase orders, the load or routing number from the customer, and the shipper's own shipment ID.
• The lines. One line per commodity or class, each with handling units, packaging, weight, freight class and description.
• Handling and hazmat. Special handling requirements, remarks for the driver, and hazardous materials detail when it applies.
• Charges, when known. Rates and charges per line, used when the shipper rates the shipment itself.

Interactive Example: 211 for an LTL Shipment, Freight Collect

This continues the story from our 754 routing instructions guide. The retailer routed Lakeshore Home Goods' two purchase orders to LTL carrier QLTX under load number LD6021-88412. At pickup, Lakeshore sends the bill of lading as a 211.

The BOL segment carries the SCAC, collect terms (CC, because the retailer pays), the BOL number, the pickup date and time, and the PRO number from the pre-printed label. L11 passes the retailer's load number so the carrier and the DC can match the freight to the routing. The N1 loops name the shipper, the consignee DC and the bill-to. Then one AT1 loop per PO: the PO in L11, the description in AT4, and cartons, weight and freight class in AT2. 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.

The same shipment appears later in the carrier's 212 delivery trailer manifest to the DC, its 214 status messages, and its 210 freight invoice, all keyed on the same BOL and PRO numbers.

211 Structure at a Glance

The table follows X12 004010.

There is no N7, L5, L0 or L3 in the 004010 211. Those segments belong to the 204 and 210. The 211 has its own AT family for bill of lading lines, and puts the trailer in MS2.

Key Segments Explained

BOL: Beginning Segment for the Motor Carrier Bill of Lading

BOL*QLTX*CC*LHG-BOL-77120*20261111*0900*QLTX20481557~

BOL03 and BOL06 are the two numbers everything else hangs on. The shipper tracks by BOL number, the carrier by PRO. Sending both on the 211 is the simplest way to make the carrier's 214s and 210s match your records.

B2A: Set Purpose

B2A*00~

B2A01 is 00 for an original bill of lading. A carrier's guide may also accept 01 (cancellation) or 04 (change). Corrections after pickup are where the carrier's own rules matter most, because the freight has already been tendered under the original BOL.

L11: References

L11*LD6021-88412*LO~
L11*4500781234*PO~

At heading level, L11 carries shipment-wide references. On collect retail freight, the retailer's load or routing number belongs here, because that is what the carrier and the DC match on. Inside an AT1 loop, L11 ties the line to its PO.

N1 Loop: Shipper, Consignee and Bill-to

N1*CN*BIG-BOX RETAILER DC 6021*92*6021~
N3*1200 DISTRIBUTION PKWY~
N4*COLUMBUS*OH*43217*US~

N101 codes the party: SH shipper, CN consignee, BT bill-to. On collect or third-party freight, send the bill-to every time; it is how the carrier knows whom to invoice.

AT1, AT4 and AT2: The Bill of Lading Lines

AT1*1~
L11*4500781234*PO~
AT4*HOUSEWARES, KITCHEN TEXTILES~
AT2*220*CTN*G*L*4180*****85~

AT101 numbers the line. AT401 is the description of the lading. AT2 carries the numbers the carrier rates from:

The class in AT210 comes from the commodity's NMFC item, which NMFTA maintains and revises. Do not hard-code a class per customer or per product line; take it from your item master, and review it when the NMFC changes. A wrong class or weight on the BOL usually comes back as a reclass or reweigh on the carrier's 210.

AT3: Rates and Charges

AT301 is the charge for the line (two implied decimals, so 12500 means 125.00), with the rate and its basis in AT302 and AT303 or a charge code in AT306. Many shippers leave AT3 out and let the carrier rate the shipment; send it only if your guide asks.

AT5 and K1: Handling and Remarks

AT5 carries coded special handling (AT501) or special services (AT502). K1 carries free text such as delivery appointment notes. Accessorials the carrier will bill, like liftgate or inside delivery, should be coded the way the carrier's guide says, not only written in a remark.

211 vs 204 vs 215 vs 856

The 204 books a truck, the 211 documents a shipment, and the 215 lists everything handed over at once. The 856 goes to the customer, not the carrier, and should carry the same BOL number and SCAC as the 211. For ocean freight, the carrier's bill of lading and invoice data come back on the 310 instead.

Common 211 Errors and How to Prevent Them

211 Implementation Checklist

• Confirm the carrier accepts the 211, the X12 release (usually 004010), and GS01 = BL
• Agree what goes in BOL03 and whether you send the PRO in BOL06
• Map payment terms from your orders to BOL02
• List the L11 qualifiers the carrier wants at heading and line level
• Load NMFC classes, and item numbers if required, into your item master
• Agree how handling requirements and accessorials are coded
• Confirm hazmat requirements and whether a paper BOL must still travel with the freight
• Agree the cutoff time and how corrections and cancellations are sent
• Test prepaid, collect and third-party shipments, single-line and multi-line

Our EDI document types reference shows how 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

The consignee, the PO numbers, the quantities and the freight terms on a bill of lading all start on a purchase order. When an order arrives as a PDF or an email and someone keys it into the ERP, a wrong ship-to or freight term follows it onto the BOL, and onto the carrier's invoice.

OrderSync reads inbound orders in any format, from EDI 850s and 875s to PDFs, emails and spreadsheets, matches customers, items and units to your catalog, and outputs clean ERP data or valid X12, so your shipping system starts from accurate orders. Paste any 211 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