EDI 322 Terminal Operations: Ramp Activity Guide

The EDI 322 is how terminals and rail ramps tell everyone else what they did with the box. A marine terminal discharges a container, a trucker pulls it out of the gate, a port operator ramps it onto a railcar, a railroad unloads it at an inland ramp. Each of those moves is recorded by whoever operates the facility, and the 322 is the X12 message that reports it to the ocean carrier, the railroad or the customer that needs to know.

This guide covers what the 322 reports, who sends it to whom, how it relates to the 315 container status feed, every segment you will map, a live sample with a discharge and an out-gate at Los Angeles, and the errors that leave terminal events out of the shipment record.

What Is an EDI 322?

An EDI 322 is the Terminal Operations and Intermodal Ramp Activity transaction set defined by ASC X12, used to report terminal operations and intermodal ramp activity for equipment. It is built around one event per transaction: a Q5 status at the top, then one or more pieces of equipment, each with its own location, vessel, parties and references. The 322 travels in functional group SO (the GS01 value), the same group as the 304.

Authoritative references for 322 work:

• The X12 transaction set catalog defines the 322 structure and the shipment status code list used in Q5
• Stedi's X12 004010 reference for the 322 lists the segments, elements and code values for release 004010
• CN's 322 implementation guide for port operators is a public example of a port operator sending 322s to a railroad as containers are ramped onto railcars, with a full sample message
• CN's customer 322 implementation guide shows the other direction: a railroad sending intermodal events to its customers, with the status codes it offers
• The BIC container prefix register governs the four-letter owner codes in ISO 6346 container numbers, which the 322 carries in N7

Who sends it? Whoever operates the facility or the move: a marine terminal operator, a port operator ramping containers to rail, or a railroad reporting ramp events. Chassis providers also publish 322 implementation guides.

Who receives it? The party that needs the event: the ocean carrier whose container it is, the railroad taking it inland, or a shipper, consignee or forwarder that subscribed to a railroad's feed.

When is it sent? As events happen or on a schedule. The CN guides describe both: port operators send 322s as containers are ramped, and CN's customer feed can be scheduled at intervals through the day.

Why does it matter? The terminal and the ramp are where containers sit, and where storage and free time are counted. A carrier that does not get the terminal's discharge and gate events cannot send accurate 315s to its customers, and a railroad that does not get the port operator's ramp events cannot track what is on its trains.

The 322 in the Ocean Flow

The 300 to 310 documents set up the booking and the bill of lading. The 315 and the 322 report what happens to the containers afterwards, from different sources. A common pattern: the terminal records the discharge and the out-gate and sends 322s to the ocean carrier, and the carrier passes the same events on to its customers as 315s. On rail moves, the railroad may send 322s directly to the customer. Who sends what is set by the trading partner agreements, so confirm the flow with each partner.

Q5 Status Codes in a 322

The event is coded in Q501, X12 data element 157 (Shipment Status Code), the same element the 315 uses in B403 and the 214 in AT701. Each terminal or railroad uses its own subset. These codes appear in published 322 guides and the X12 list:

The CN customer guide lists a longer set, including bad order and repair events and interchange events between railroads, and uses an NF event to carry the last free day of storage when the customer asks for it. Codes like that come from the partner's guide only, so log any code you do not recognise and look it up there.

Interactive Example: Discharge and Out-Gate at Los Angeles

A fictional marine terminal operator at Los Angeles (SOUTHBAYCT) reports two events to the ocean carrier (SCAC BLUQ) for container QXZU4128732. One interchange carries two 322 transactions. The first reports UV, unloaded from vessel, on 20 November at 11:42 local time. The second reports OA, out-gate, on 21 November at 13:52, and adds an N1 for the drayage carrier that pulled the container. In both, N7 identifies the container with its check digit, type and owner SCAC, M7 gives the seal, V1 the vessel and voyage, R4 the terminal and N9 the bill of lading and booking numbers. All names, numbers and codes are fictional. The carrier's own 315 import milestones sample reports the same two events to the importer.

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

322 Structure at a Glance

The table follows X12 release 004010. Most of the 322 sits inside the N7 loop, so one transaction can report the same event for many pieces of equipment.

Key Segments Explained

Q5: Status Details

Q5*UV*20261120*1142*LT~

The CN customer guide notes that its default is universal time and local time is an option. Always read Q504 before you compare a terminal event with a vessel schedule or a truck appointment.

N7: Equipment Details

N7*QXZU*412873*9210*G*******CN*BLUQ*****K*2****45G1~

The N7 opens the loop that carries everything else about the equipment. If a 322 reports a vessel discharge for 300 containers, it carries 300 N7 loops under a single Q5.

V1: Vessel Identification

V1*9700017*MERIDIAN HARBOR*LR*118E*BLUQ***L~

V101 is the vessel code (here a Lloyd's or IMO number, qualified by V108 = L), V102 the name, V103 the flag, V104 the voyage and V105 the carrier. Vessel and voyage let the receiver group all the containers from one discharge.

R4: Terminal or Ramp

R4*D*UN*USLAX*LOS ANGELES*US*SOUTH BAY CONTAINER TERMINAL~

Function codes and location schemes vary more on the 322 than on the 315. Marine terminals often report against the port of discharge or loading. The CN port operator guide uses 6 origin rail terminal and 7 destination rail terminal with Canadian and US SPLC codes. Map what each partner sends rather than assuming one scheme.

N1 and N9: Parties and References

N1*MC*HARBORLINE DRAYAGE INC*2*HLDY~
N9*BM*BLUQSHA2611045~
N9*BN*BK7730412~

N101 = MC names a motor carrier, here the drayage company that pulled the container on the out-gate, with its SCAC in N104 (qualifier 2 in N103). The N9 references tie the event to the shipment: BM bill of lading, BN booking, and on rail moves WY waybill number and P8 pick-up number, as the CN guides show. The bill of lading number is the key you will use to join 322 events to the 310 and the 315 feed.

EDI 322 vs 315, 214 and 313

All three status messages share the shipment status code list, so a UV or OA means the same thing whichever set it arrives in. The difference is the source and the shape. The 315 is the ocean carrier's account to its customer, one container per message in most guides. The 322 is the facility's account, often many containers per message, and focused on equipment rather than the shipment. The 214 is the truck carrier's account of the drayage leg that follows the out-gate, often tendered with a 204 and billed with a 210. Join all three on the container number and you have one timeline.

Common 322 Errors and How to Prevent Them

322 Implementation Checklist

Before your first live 322 feed from a terminal, port operator or railroad:

• Get the partner's 322 implementation guide and confirm the X12 version in GS08 (004010 is common) and the SO functional group
• Get its list of Q501 status codes and add any partner-specific ones to your mapping
• Confirm whether times are local or universal, and how Q504 is used
• Confirm how many N7 loops a transaction can carry and whether events for one container can arrive in different transactions
• Agree the location scheme in R4 (UN/LOCODE, SPLC or the partner's own codes)
• Confirm which references come in N9, and map the bill of lading and booking numbers to your shipments
• Decide how 322 events and 315 events for the same container are merged
• Confirm the 997 or 824 you will send back
• Test a single event, a multi-container event, a correction and a rail ramp sequence if the move goes inland by rail

If you are mapping ocean and rail EDI for the first time, our EDI document types reference shows where these sets sit beside the 850 purchase order and the 856 ASN. The SCAC code glossary entry explains the carrier codes the 322 uses for equipment owners and truckers.

Where OrderSync Fits

A terminal event tells you where the container is. To act on it, you need to know which purchase orders are inside and who is waiting for them, and that record starts with orders that often arrive as EDI 850s, PDFs, emails and spreadsheets.

OrderSync reads inbound orders in any format, matches customers, items and units to your catalog, and outputs clean ERP data or valid X12. Paste any 322 into the free EDI inspector to see it parsed segment by segment with a plain-English summary and any structural errors explained, or book a 15-minute walkthrough to see your own orders processed.

Frequently Asked Questions