Carrier Onboarding

Carrier onboarding is the process of bringing a new trucking company into your approved carrier network so they can begin hauling your freight. It spans everything from initial outreach and compliance verification to rate agreement execution and system setup. Done well, onboarding builds a diverse, competitive carrier base. Done poorly, it creates compliance gaps, payment delays, and service failures.

A standard carrier onboarding process includes verifying the carrier's FMCSA operating authority and safety rating, confirming active insurance coverage that meets your minimum requirements – typically $1M auto liability and $100K cargo insurance at minimum – collecting a signed carrier agreement or rate confirmation, setting up payment terms and remittance information, and configuring the carrier in your TMS or load board for tendering and tracking. Many shippers also check CSA scores, review inspection histories, and verify that the carrier isn't flagged on any watchlists.

The challenge with carrier onboarding is that it's simultaneously critical and tedious. Every document needs to be current, every insurance certificate needs to be verified against the actual policy, and every operating authority needs to be cross-referenced with FMCSA records. Let any of this lapse and you're exposed – shipping on a carrier whose insurance has expired or whose authority has been revoked creates enormous liability. Yet the manual work of collecting, verifying, and tracking this documentation across dozens or hundreds of carriers buries logistics teams in administrative overhead.

Modern onboarding increasingly relies on automated compliance monitoring services that continuously verify carrier credentials rather than relying on point-in-time checks. This is especially important because insurance certificates and authority status can change between the time you onboard a carrier and the time they pick up a load.