ABF eCarrier^® Information Resource Center

Welcome to ABF’s eCarrier^® Information Resource Center. This resource is an online information service provided to ABF customers so that they may stay up to date on all the latest innovative solutions ABF offers its customers for managing their freight transportation needs.

ABF^® has led the transportation industry in launching Internet-based applications for its customers, the primary goal of the ABF eCarrier project.

ABF eCarrier online applications have become the total supply-chain solution for ABF customers, offering such functionality as bill of lading generation and pickup planning, customer-intelligent quotations, proactive tracking and e-mail notification, logistics reports, a document database, dynamic rerouting of in-transit shipments, a wireless solution and XML connectivity.

As ABF customers continue to demand time- and money-saving applications via Internet-based technology, ABF will persist in meeting these needs by developing innovative, user-centric applications via its Internet initiative.

Examples of ABF’s innovative solutions include the following:

Shipment Planner

The Shipment Planner^® displays shipments in a calendar format (month, week, day) by pickup date, due/delivery date or appointment date, as selected by the customer. Users can choose the types of shipments (inbound, outbound, third-party) and the shipment reference number (pro number, shipper bill of lading number, purchase order number, shipper name or consignee name) to be displayed. Calendar items are hyper­linked to additional shipment detail. Users can also manage business and personal items, such as meetings, appointments and anniversaries, with their customized Shipment Planner calendar.

The Shipment Planner is powered by ABF’s online reporting system. Users can create detailed reports, customized to their specific needs. Users can choose from a wide variety of shipment selection, data item and sort sequence options. Selecting from over 70 data fields, users can also create any number of custom report formats. A report “Wizard” is available to guide report creation. These reports can be saved and quickly retrieved for future use. Reports can be downloaded as a normal HTML-based Web page, ASCII comma-delimited file, Excel spreadsheet or in an XML format. For less experienced users, ABF provides 10 standard reports (e.g. undelivered shipments, unpaid bills, or recent outbound shipments) that can be created with a single click. In addition, report users may directly link from the report to trace or reroute a shipment or review an invoice, bill of lading, or proof of delivery.

Dynamic Rerouting

Dynamic Rerouting allows shippers to reroute in-transit shipments directly from the ABF Web site. Shipments can also be recalled and returned to the origin. ABF’s internal systems automatically issue the rerouting instructions to the proper ABF service center based upon the current location of the shipment within the ABF system. With Dynamic Rerouting, ABF also provides an e-mail confirmation of the reconsignment and a statement of the revised charges.

ABF Anywhere

ABF Anywhere lets shippers manage their shipment information and communicate with ABF via a wireless handheld or mobile, Web-enabled device. Currently, the service works with the Palm VIITM handheld, Windows CE devices, and mobile phones with Internet access. Users can trace shipments and lookup contact information for ABFs service centers across North America.

Transparent Links

ABF Transparent Links allow shippers to incorporate data from ABF’s information systems directly into their own. This type of communication is achieved via XML, a meta-language that enables two parties to communicate using defined data tags. For example, a merchandise order is completed on the Web site of an ABF customer. A program on the corresponding server processes the order. As part of the order fulfillment process, this program also submits a pickup request directly to the ABF server. As a result, an ABF program enters the pickup request and returns a confirmation or list of errors (via an XML document) back to the calling program on the customer’s server. Using an XML parser, the server uses this information to respond back to the party initiating the order and adds the pickup request to the orders database.