In order to reliably track your shipments using the Portcast platform, it is important to use a complete combination of shipment identifiers. But, whether your are uploading using the BL/Booking number or the Container Number, it is highly recommended to provide a valid Carrier code, commonly known as SCAC.
But what is actually a SCAC code, and how can you use it to better track shipments on the Portcast ecosystem?
The SCAC acronym stands for Standard Carrier Alpha Code. It is a unique code, constituted of four letters, assigned by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) since the 1960s. Its goal is to uniquely identify transportation companies, such as ocean carriers, trucking companies, freight forwarders, or intermodal transporters.
A SCAC code uniquely identifies a transportation company. On the Portcast platform, and in the context of Ocean visibility, for example, it is fundamental to uniquely identify which company is carrying a specific BL/Booking or Container.
However, shipment numbers are not always ‘unique’ between carriers, which can lead to difficulties identifying the ‘right’ shipment when uploading it to the platform for tracking. This is where the SCAC code comes in handy - it lets the Portcast platform know, in a much more precise way, which carrier is handling your shipment.
This means a much more reliable and timely identification of shipments across the platform.
The SCAC code can be used while carrying uploads on the platform, either using the API or the Web Application. If you’ve already uploaded shipments into the platform using either method, you’ll know that you can either upload using a BL/Booking number of your shipment, or the Container number (or, in an ideal world, both - read our input guide for more information). Along with it, you should also provide the SCAC code, sometimes referred to as Carrier Code.
We keep a list of supported carriers and their SCAC codes. This is not only handy to understand what SCAC code you should use, but also to understand if a specific carrier is supported on our platform. Please refer to the supported table, find your carrier, and use its 4-letter SCAC code during upload for ideal upload results.
Additionally, inside the Portcast Web platform, we have made available a SCAC lookup tool that you can use to obtain your SCAC code even more easily:
The carrier look-up tool included in the Portcast WebApp. You can use the search tool to start typing a carrier name or a SCAC synonym and the lookup tool will actively filter available carriers to show you the best matches. Read more about the tool in our Knowledge base article on “Using lookup tools”.