TMS: dispatch & tendering

Assign a carrier directly, or send tenders for carriers to accept/decline in the Carrier Portal; consolidate orders into a shipment (SH-).

When the order is pending dispatch, it is time to find a truck — that step is called "dispatch": handing the freight to a carrier (a trucking company that hauls for you).

Two ways to dispatch#

• Direct assign: you already have a trusted carrier — name them, fill in the quoted cost, and dispatch.
• Tender (招标): send the order out for bids. Carriers see it in the Carrier Portal (a separate app for carriers) and click accept or decline.

• The carrier picker is split in two: "My Fleet" on top (your own trucks) and "External Carriers" below (partner trucking companies). You always see your own fleet first.
• When you create a carrier, tick "Own fleet" and it lands in the top group automatically. You can also flip it later from the carrier list — one click moves a carrier between the two groups.

Direct assign#

1. The order must be pending dispatch.
2. Click Assign: pick the carrier (must be active in your organization), optionally fill the quoted cost and assign a driver.
3. Confirm: the order becomes dispatched. If you assigned a driver, they get a notification automatically.

Send a tender#

1. Start the tender: pick the order and the carrier, fill the rate amount and the expiry time.
2. The carrier sees it in the Carrier Portal’s Tender Inbox and clicks accept — or decline (a decline reason is required).
3. Someone accepts: the tender becomes accepted, the order becomes dispatched, and the carrier and rate land on the order (quoted_cost = rate_amount). Other open tenders for the same order are cancelled automatically.
4. Nobody accepts: keep tendering to the next carrier.

Consolidate into a shipment (SH-)#

1. Several small orders heading the same way (e.g. LTL orders on one lane) can be merged into one shipment (SH-); it starts as planned.
2. Add the orders into the shipment.
3. Advance the shipment’s status (planned → dispatched → picked_up → in_transit → out_for_delivery → delivered → billed): member orders automatically sync to the same status, each getting its own tracking event.