Commodities

Previous  Top  Next

The shipping instruction contains two fields:

1) STCC (Standard Transportation Commodity Code) - a 7 digit number that identifies a type of commodity and

2) Commodity, which is a typically a description of the STCC

For ease of data entry of shipping instructions, RMS maintains a lookup list of both standard (STCC and its related description) and proprietary commodity descriptions. Why two types of commodity descriptions? Some users may wish to store a company specific commodity description in the commodity field. For example, some types of sand (distinguished by the size of grain) are used for very different applications, but the STCC is the same for each. In this case, the company needs a way for RMS to help them distinguish which railcars contain Sand A (smaller grain size) and Sand B (larger grain size).

On the Shipping Instruction data entry window, you will see a lookup list to select the STCC and then you may choose to see either a lookup list of standard or proprietary descriptions.

If you import shipping instructions using a Railroad Customer 417 Account and would like to use a proprietary commodity description, you can achieve this with a few simple steps. Normally the commodity description that is imported into the Commodity field is a description of the STCC.

1. The proprietary commodity description must be placed in a "Customer Refrerence Number" field on the bill of lading. Specifically, this field must map to the 02 element of the N9 segment of the EDI 404/417 document. A qualifier of CR must be included in the 01 element of the N9 segment. If you are using a railcar carrier website to enter bills of lading, call their customer service department and ask to speak to their EDI department and ask them what specific field to use on the website is used.

2. In RMS, open the Import Properties window (Data Management | Import Properties), click on the Options tab and place a check in the box labeled, "Fill shipping instruciton record Commodity Description field with Customer Reference Number", click the Save button.