James Allman | JA Technology Solutions LLC
Shipping, freight, and logistics operations integration and custom development
If your operation generates bills of lading, allocates landed cost across multi-line import shipments, or moves freight data between a TMS, an ERP, and a carrier's systems, you know how much of that data movement is still manual. Rekeying a PRO number from a carrier website into an ERP, re-entering a customs entry into a landed-cost spreadsheet, or re-classifying freight because the NMFC class on the BOL doesn't match the carrier's assessment: these are integration problems, and they're solvable.
I work with freight brokers, third-party logistics providers, importers and exporters, distributors, and shippers whose operations depend on accurate freight data moving automatically between the systems that need it. That includes organizations running ERP and TMS platforms that predate modern API connectivity, IBM i-based distribution systems, and the custom tools that have grown up around them over the years.
Several of the free logistics tools on this site came out of exactly this kind of work: the Bill of Lading Generator, the Landed Cost Calculator, the NMFC Freight Class Estimator, and the HTS Tariff Code Lookup all exist because these are real, recurring pain points in freight and import operations.
Where the integration breaks down
The typical logistics data problem isn't a missing system; it's three systems that each have part of the picture and no clean way to share it. A TMS tracks the shipment; the ERP carries the purchase order and item receipt; the customs broker's portal has the entry and duty figures. When a shipment arrives, someone reconciles those three by hand, or with a spreadsheet that has survived four people's tenure.
On the outbound side, generating a compliant bill of lading that matches what the carrier expects on the PRO, what the EDI 856 ASN says the retailer will receive, and what the ERP posted as the shipment requires the same data in three formats. When those don't agree, chargebacks follow.
Landed cost allocation is its own category. Distributing freight, duty, insurance, and customs fees across a multi-line import shipment by weight, volume, or declared value, then posting the allocated per-unit amounts back to the ERP before the receipt closes, is rarely automated out of the box. It usually lives in a spreadsheet, updated manually after the duty statement arrives weeks after the goods.
What I do
I build the connections between the systems that logistics operations already run on: TMS-to-ERP bridges, carrier EDI integrations (X12 210 freight invoices, 214 shipment status, 856 ASNs), customs entry feeds that push duty and HTS data into landed-cost calculations, and receiving workflows that tie inbound BOL data to dock scheduling and PO confirmation.
Where the platform is IBM i, as it is for a number of distributors and shipping operators, I work directly in RPG, CL, and DB2 for i: reading inbound EDI files, writing outbound transactions, building reporting against the data that flows through the platform. The same integration work connects to Linux-side APIs and Windows-based TMS or ERP systems on the other end of the pipe.
- TMS-to-ERP integration: shipment status, freight invoice reconciliation, and receipt confirmation across systems that don't talk natively
- EDI for logistics: X12 210 (freight invoice), 214 (shipment status), 850/856 (purchase order / advance ship notice) for retailer compliance
- Landed cost automation: allocating freight, duty, and customs fees across multi-line import shipments and posting per-unit costs to the ERP
- Bill of lading generation with carrier-specific formatting and PRO number tracking
- HTS tariff classification workflows: pulling USITC schedule data, mapping it to item masters, and surfacing classification in duty calculations
- NMFC freight class determination and carrier reweigh dispute documentation
- Receiving dock coordination: connecting inbound BOL and PO data to dock scheduling and truck-day workflows
- Custom reporting for freight spend, carrier performance, and duty and tariff exposure by commodity
Free shipping and logistics tools
These tools handle the everyday freight, classification, and documentation tasks that come up across shipping, receiving, and import operations. All run in the browser; no data is sent to a server.
- HS/HTS Tariff Code Lookup: search the full USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule by keyword or chapter to find duty rates and HTS subheadings for import classification
- NMFC Freight Class Estimator: determine density-based LTL freight class from dimensions and weight for BOL documentation and rate quoting
- Dimensional Weight Calculator: calculate billable weight for parcel and air shipments to catch carrier reweigh surprises before the invoice arrives
- Freight Rate Estimator: estimate LTL and parcel rates by weight, class, and zone before committing to a carrier
- Bill of Lading Generator: produce a complete BOL with shipper, consignee, commodity, NMFC class, and handling unit detail
- Landed Cost Calculator: allocate freight, duty, insurance, and customs fees across a multi-line import shipment by weight, volume, or declared value
- Container Loading Planner: plan case counts and utilization for 20ft, 40ft, and 40ft HC containers before booking
- Multi-Vendor Receiving Dock Scheduler: assign inbound trucks to dock doors and time slots using cube and unload-time estimates from the inbound BOLs
Related capabilities
Freight and logistics integration typically spans system integration (connecting TMS, ERP, carrier APIs, and customs portals), ETL and data pipelines (transforming and reconciling freight invoices, duty statements, and shipment records), custom applications (dock scheduling tools, carrier-rate shopping utilities, freight audit automation), and custom reporting (freight spend analysis, carrier performance, and landed-cost breakdowns by commodity or supplier).
Further reading
Landed Cost, Incoterms, and HTS Classification: A Practical Import Case: how to build a landed cost model that captures freight, duty, insurance, and brokerage fees, and how Incoterms determine which costs fall on the importer.
EDI Compliance Mandates: What Retailers Expect and How to Deliver: how major retailers enforce EDI requirements on ASN accuracy, invoice matching, and document timeliness, and what suppliers and 3PLs need to do to stay compliant and avoid chargebacks.