EDI 990 Response to a Load Tender: Complete Guide

The EDI 990 is the carrier's yes or no to a load. When a shipper, retailer or broker sends a 204 Motor Carrier Load Tender, the carrier answers with a 990. It is one of the shortest documents in freight EDI, sometimes only two or three segments between ST and SE, but until it arrives the load is not booked, and a decline that goes unnoticed becomes a missed pickup.

This guide covers what the 990 says, the segments and codes you will map, two live examples (an acceptance and a decline), how it differs from the 997 and the 204, and the errors that leave loads uncovered.

What Is an EDI 990?

An EDI 990 is the Response to a Load Tender transaction set defined by ASC X12, used by a motor carrier to answer a 204 that was sent as a load tender. The standard describes it as the response to a 204 used as a load tender, carrying general information about a specific shipment. It travels in functional group GF (the GS01 value) and most implementations use X12 004010, the same release as the 204 it answers.

Authoritative references for 990 work:

• The X12 transaction set catalog defines the 990 and its segment order, and Stedi's X12 004010 reference for the 990 lists every segment, element and code value
• The National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) issues the SCAC that identifies the responding carrier in B101
• Each shipper or broker publishes a 990 implementation guide that sets which action codes it accepts, which references it wants back, and how long the carrier has to answer

Who sends it? The carrier that received the 204.

Who receives it? The party that tendered the load: a shipper, a retailer moving collect freight, a broker or a 3PL.

When is it sent? After the carrier decides, and before any respond-by deadline the 204 carries (often a G62 with qualifier 64, must respond by). The shipper's guide sets the window.

Why does it matter? A load is not covered until the carrier accepts. A fast decline lets the shipper move to the next carrier on its routing guide while there is still time to make the pickup.

Accept or Decline: the Reservation Action Code

The decision lives in B104, the Reservation Action Code. The X12 code list for that element has seven values:

Many shipper guides support only A and D. If a carrier sends B or C to a shipper whose system only reads A and D, the load can sit in limbo, so agree the list before go-live.

Interactive Example: 990 Accepting a Load Tender

This continues the story from our 204 guide. The retailer tendered truckload TL-90217 (one pickup at Lakeshore Home Goods in Grand Rapids, two drops at its DCs) to carrier QTLX. The carrier accepts: B1 gives its SCAC, echoes the shipment number from the 204's B204, dates the response and sends action code A. N9 returns the carrier's own reference for the load (CN, which the carrier will also use as the PRO on its 214 status messages and 210 invoice), and G62 confirms the scheduled pickup. 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.

Interactive Example: 990 Declining a Load Tender

The day before, the retailer had offered the same load to RDGX, the first carrier on its routing guide for that lane. That carrier declined with action code D and a K1 remark explaining why. The retailer's system read the decline and tendered the load to QTLX next.

The K1 remark is free text. It helps a person, but a system cannot act on it, so do not build logic on its wording.

990 Structure at a Glance

The table follows X12 004010.

Only B1 is required between the envelope segments. Everything else is there for the shipper's guide to ask for.

Key Segments Explained

B1: Beginning Segment for Booking or Pick-up/Delivery

B1*QTLX*TL-90217*20261106*A~

B102 is how the shipper matches the response to its tender. If it does not match a B204 the shipper sent to that SCAC, the 990 is an orphan. Carriers should copy the value exactly, including dashes and leading zeros.

N9: Reference Identification

N9*CN*QTLX-TL-558210~

The 990 allows only one N9 in the heading. Guides commonly use it to get the carrier's own reference back, because that is the number the carrier will quote on status messages and invoices.

G62: Date/Time

G62*69*20261113*U*0700~

G6201 qualifies the date (69 scheduled pick-up, 70 scheduled delivery) and G6203 the time (U scheduled pick-up time, X scheduled delivery time). Some guides want the carrier to confirm the pickup it is committing to; others ignore any dates on a 990.

K1: Remarks

K1*NO DRY VAN CAPACITY GRAND RAPIDS 11/13~

K101 and K102 carry free text. Use them for the reason behind a decline or a condition on an acceptance, and keep the coded decision in B104.

990 vs 997 vs 204

A 997 says nothing about whether the carrier will haul the load. Only the 990 does. Treat a 204 that has a 997 but no 990 as uncovered.

Where the 990 Sits in the Freight Flow

1. 204 Motor Carrier Load Tender: the shipper offers the load
2. 990 Response to a Load Tender: the carrier accepts or declines; on a decline, back to step 1 with the next carrier
3. 211 Motor Carrier Bill of Lading or a paper BOL: the shipper documents the freight at pickup
4. 214 Shipment Status: the carrier reports pickup, transit and delivery events
5. 210 Motor Carrier Freight Invoice: the carrier bills the move

On LTL freight into retail DCs, the carrier may also send the consignee a 212 delivery trailer manifest before delivery. On retail collect freight, the retailer passes the booked carrier to its supplier with a 754 Routing Instructions.

Common 990 Errors and How to Prevent Them

990 Implementation Checklist

• Confirm each partner's 990 guide, X12 release and GS01 = GF
• Confirm which action codes the partner accepts in B104
• Agree which reference goes back in N9 and with which qualifier
• Confirm the response window and how the 204 states it
• Decide whether to confirm dates in G62 or stops in the S5 loop
• Agree how decline reasons are sent
• Match every outbound 204 to its 990 and alert on declines and silence
• Test an acceptance, a decline, and a response to a changed and a cancelled tender

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

Where OrderSync Fits

A 990 confirms the truck. What goes on that truck, and where it goes, comes from purchase orders that arrived as EDI 850s or 875s, PDFs, emails or spreadsheets and had to be entered correctly before anything could ship.

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 the loads you tender start from accurate orders. Paste any 990 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