Award
An award is the shipper's decision at the end of a bid: which carrier or broker gets each lane, at what rate, in what routing guide position, and for how long. An award is a commitment to tender, not a volume guarantee, and the awarded rate holds only for its validity period.
The award closes a bid event. For each lane the shipper names a primary and usually one or more backups, records the accepted rate, and loads the result into the routing guide. Most awards are not contracts to move a fixed number of loads; they are commitments to offer the freight first to the awarded provider at the awarded rate. The forecast volume in the bid file is an estimate, and actual tenders can run well above or below it.
On Mexico lanes an award often has to specify more than the rate: which crossing, who handles the transfer, which currency the Mexican leg is paid in, and what happens to the rate when fuel or the exchange rate moves.
What this means when you move freight
Read an award as a set of terms, not a number. The rate matters, but so do the validity period, the fuel and currency mechanics, and the tender rules. Brokers should confirm the award in writing, including what happens when the shipper tenders outside the forecast, before the first load moves. Shippers should expect an award set below the lane's market rate to unravel through tender rejections within months, and to cost more, not less, once loads fall to spot. An award that both sides can live with for its whole term is worth more than the lowest number on the bid sheet.
Put the vocabulary to work
Cargado connects hundreds of brokers with 2,300+ vetted carriers moving Canada and Mexico freight every day.