A SCAC (Standard Carrier Alpha Code) is the two-to-four-letter code, issued by the NMFTA, that identifies a carrier in U.S. transportation and customs systems. Cross-border, it is required on the ACE e-Manifest and in most EDI and TMS integrations.
A SCAC, or Standard Carrier Alpha Code, is a two-to-four-letter identifier assigned to carriers by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA). It is how U.S. systems, from CBP's ACE platform to shipper TMS and EDI networks, recognize a specific carrier entity. Any carrier filing an ACE e-Manifest to cross into the United States needs one, which makes the SCAC a standard item in cross-border carrier onboarding.
Its Mexican counterpart is the CAAT code issued by Mexico's customs agency: a cross-border carrier operation typically needs both, each registered to the correct legal entity.
The SCAC sounds like trivia until a truck is sitting at the bridge. The code on the e-manifest must belong to the entity physically crossing the freight. In a typical through-trailer move, that is often the transfer company rather than the long-haul carrier, and manifests filed under the wrong SCAC are a recurring cause of trucks turned around at the booth. When onboarding a cross-border carrier, capture the SCAC (and which entity holds it) alongside DOT and MC numbers, insurance, and the CAAT. If the carrier operates under multiple entities on each side of the border, map which SCAC pairs with which entity before the first load, not after the first rejection.
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