EDI 214 (Shipment Status Message)
The EDI transaction set carriers use to report shipment milestones — pickup, in-transit, delivery — back to the shipper or broker.
How it works — and why it matters
Each 214 carries a standardized status code and timestamp — for example AF (departed pickup), X6 (en route), X3 (arrived at delivery), and D1 (delivered) — tied to the shipment's reference numbers. Carriers send them at each milestone, and many shippers contractually require specific events within specific time windows.
The 214 is how shippers and brokers historically achieved shipment visibility without phone calls, and it still underpins many scorecards and on-time metrics. Increasingly, carriers generate 214 events automatically from telematics and geofence triggers rather than manual dispatcher entry, which improves both timeliness and accuracy while freeing dispatchers from status-update busywork.