Creating Shipments

Build, validate, and submit shipment drafts in the chrt order builder.

Shipments in chrt are built as drafts that you submit once everything is in place. This page walks through the draft builder tab by tab so you can confidently place an order with a forwarder, a directly-assigned courier, or an off-platform provider you record yourself.

Before you start

  • You need a connected forwarder or courier — or an off-platform provider you’ve recorded — to assign the work to.
  • Cargo is required before you can submit. If you don’t know what’s moving yet, choose Other or Unspecified and you can fill in details later.

If you have an email or quote describing the shipment, paste it into the AI order builder on the Order setup tab and chrt will populate cargo, stops, and segments for you to review.

1. Open the draft builder

Go to chrt.com/orders/drafts/new, or open the Drafts list at chrt.com/orders/drafts and click New draft. chrt creates the draft as soon as you land and updates the URL to /orders/drafts/<short-id> so you can save and come back to it.

The builder uses a four-tab layout: Order setup, Segments, Stops, and Cargo, with a Preview step at the end. Each tab shows a status dot (green when complete, yellow when there are unsaved changes, gray when empty).

2. Assign the order on the Order setup tab

The Order setup tab decides who is responsible for executing the shipment.

  • Assign a forwarder if you want a freight forwarder to coordinate the legs and dispatch the couriers. Forwarders can build multi-segment, multi-modal orders (ground + flight + ground).
  • Assign a courier directly if you’ve already chosen the carrier and the shipment is a single ground leg. Direct courier assignment locks the order to ground-only.

You cannot assign both a forwarder and a courier on the same order. If you need to switch from one to the other, clear the current assignment first.

If you have an external reference number (a PO, a customer’s order ID), enter it in External reference ID so it appears on the order page and in exports.

3. Add cargo on the Cargo tab

Each cargo line represents item(s) that share the same pickup and delivery pattern. If three identical totes go from A to B, enter one cargo line with quantity 3 and the shared dimensions. If three items go to three different addresses, create three separate cargo lines.

  1. Click Add cargo.
  2. Choose a cargo type.
  3. Fill in description, quantity, weight in pounds, and L × W × H in inches. Auto-save fires on blur.
  4. Use Duplicate in the top-right of a saved cargo card to copy it, then edit only the fields that differ.

Cargo type drives qualification (which couriers can run the shipment) and pricing. See Cargo types for the full list.

4. Add segments on the Segments tab

Segments are the legs of the shipment. Each segment is a task group that can be tracked and (if you have a forwarder) assigned to a different courier.

  • Ground only — one segment, one courier.
  • Ground → Flight → Ground — three segments. The middle flight segment is system-managed (no courier selector); use the Flights tab inside the draft to attach flight info.
  • OBC (on-board courier) — for hand-carry shipments where one person accompanies the cargo door-to-door. Forwarders typically build these.

Flight mode is unavailable if you assigned a courier directly on the Order setup tab — flights require a forwarder.

5. Add stops on the Stops tab

Each segment gets a sequence of stops (pickup, deliver, hold, transfer to airline, recover from airline, etc.). chrt creates default stops when you add a segment — pickup + deliver for ground, and pickup + tender + recover + deliver for a flight chain — and you can add, reorder, or remove stops from there.

  1. Open a stop to set the address. If a contact on a connection has a saved address, click the map pin on the contact card to fill it; otherwise type and choose from autocomplete. Always include unit, suite, floor, or building number in the second line when applicable.
  2. Add a point of contact so the driver app shows the right person to call on arrival. Use the bell icon on a contact card to send that person ad-hoc email notifications for this order’s pickup and delivery events.
  3. Select which cargo applies to this stop. For a pickup, select the lines being picked up; for a delivery, select the lines being dropped. Forgetting this is the most common mistake on a draft.
  4. Set a time window. Add multiple windows for flexible appointments (9:00–11:00 or 12:00–14:00), a single window, or an exact instant for a precise appointment.
  5. Add special instructions the driver should see at this stop, and add task artifacts to require proof at this stop — photos, signatures, barcode scans, or other capture.

Forgetting to select cargo at a stop is the most common draft mistake. The preview validation catches it, but it’s faster to set it as you go.

6. Preview and submit

The Preview step summarizes the entire order: assigned org, segments, stops, cargo, and the quoted earnings (revenue and cost from any rate sheets on file).

  1. Click Validate to run all checks for the most common configuration issues (missing addresses, unassigned cargo, missing stops on a segment).
  2. Fix anything that’s flagged.
  3. Click Submit to convert the draft to a staged order.

The order page opens at /orders/<order-ref>. The order stays staged until the assigned courier accepts and a driver marks themselves as started driving in the driver app, at which point it moves to in progress and live tracking kicks in. See Tracking for what to expect from there.

How to know it worked

  • The URL changes from /orders/drafts/<short-id> to /orders/<order-ref>.
  • The order appears in Orders with status Staged.
  • Notifications fire to subscribed members and ad-hoc recipients (if any) for the order-staged event.

If something looks different

  • You don’t see the forwarder or courier you expected — you may not be connected yet. Open Connections and connect to them first.
  • You can’t open Flight mode — you’ve assigned a courier directly. Clear the courier assignment and choose a forwarder instead.
  • Validation fails on a stop with no error message — make sure you’ve selected at least one cargo line at that stop.
  • Submit succeeds but the courier doesn’t see the order — confirm the Order setup tab shows the right assigned org and that the connection is active.
  • Contact hi@chrt.com if you have issues.