Shipment Reference Number Types

Two kinds of reference numbers

There are two kinds of reference number types in TMS:

Standard reference types — a built-in set that's available to everyone. These are the types listed on this page.
Your own custom reference numbers — extra reference types your organization can set up for itself. Because these are specific to your account, they aren't listed here.

The good news: the API treats both the same way, so you can use either one wherever a reference number type is accepted.

How to specify a reference type

Anywhere the API asks for a reference number type, you can pass it as a simple text value. We'll match it for you — you can send any of the following:

The value (for example, 5)
The name (for example, PONumber)
The display name (for example, Customer PO Number)
The short name, where one exists (for example, PO)

Matching is not case-sensitive, so ponumber and PONumber both work.

If what you send doesn't match any of the standard types below, we'll then look for one of your own custom reference numbers by name. That way the same endpoints work for both standard and custom reference numbers without any extra steps.

Standard reference types

Any of the Value, Name, Display Name, or short name columns below can be used to specify a type.

Value	Name	Display Name
0	Other	(none)
1	ReferenceNumber	Reference Number
2	PickupNumber	Pickup Number
3	ShipperReferenceNumber	Shipper Reference Number
4	ReleaseNumber	Load Release Number
5	PONumber	Customer PO Number
6	InvoiceNumber	Invoice Number
7	QuoteNumber	Quote Number
8	QuoteDueDate	Quote Due By Date
9	TrailerNumber	Trailer Number
10	TrackingReferenceNumber	Tracking Reference Number
11	DriverCellPhoneNumber	Driver Cell Phone Number
12	ITN	Internal Transaction Number (ITN)
13	RegistrationNumber	Registration Number
14	AES	Automated Export System (AES)
15	SecondaryBOLNumber	Secondary BOL Number
16	ShipperId	Shipper ID
17	ConsigneeId	Consignee ID
18	ConsigneeMerchantRegistrationNumber	Consignee Merchant Registration Number
19	APIQuoteNumber	API Quote Number
20	LinehaulCarrierProNumber	Linehaul Carrier Pro Number
21	PickupCarrierProNumber	Pickup Carrier Pro Number
22	DeliveryCarrierProNumber	Delivery Carrier Pro Number
23	MAWBNumber	MAWB Number
24	ContainerNumber	Container Number
25	SealNumber	Seal Number
26	CustomReferenceNumber	Custom Reference Number
27	CustomReferenceNumber2	Custom Reference Number 2
28	ClaimNumber	Claim Number
29	FileNumber	File Number
30	DriverName	Driver Name
31	TruckNumber	Truck Number
32	Temperature	Current Temperature
33	SteamshipLine	Steamship Line
34	VesselVoyage	Vessel / Voyage
35	ShippingLine	Shipping Line
36	CutOff	Cut Off
37	LastFreeDay	Last Free Day
38	EarliestReturn	Earliest Return
39	ContainerSize	Container Size
40	PaymentReferenceNumber	Payment Reference Number
41	TerminalOriginCode	Terminal Origin Code
42	TerminalDestinationCode	Terminal Destination Code
43	InsuranceDeclaredValue	Insurance Declared Value
44	EmergencyContactNumber	Emergency Contact Number
45	ProofOfDeliverySignedBy	Proof Of Delivery Signed By
46	CarrierDispatcherName	Carrier Dispatcher Name
47	CarrierDispatcherPhoneNumber	Carrier Dispatcher Phone Number
49	InsuranceCertificateId	Insurance Certificate Id
50	CarrierRep	Carrier Rep
51	AppointmentConfirmationNumber	Appointment Confirmation Number
53	CustomerConfirmation	Customer Confirmation
54	CarrierConfirmation	Carrier Confirmation
55	ShowName	Show Name
56	ExhibitorName	Exhibitor Name
57	BoothNumber	Booth Number
58	Decorator	Decorator
59	QualityIssue	Quality Issue
60	CancellationReason	Cancellation Reason
61	ConsolidationCarrierProNumber	Consolidation Carrier Pro Number
62	DriverETA	Driver ETA
1041	CarrierDispatcherEmail	Carrier Dispatcher Email
1051	CustomsDeclaredValue	Customs Declared Value $
1052	ExternalBillNumber	External Bill Number
1053	PaymentCheckCode	Payment Check Code
1054	RelayCodeId	Relay Code Id
1055	RelayChargeId	Relay Charge Id
1056	AssignedBranch	Assigned Branch
1057	SecondaryDriverName	Secondary Driver Name
1058	SecondaryDriverCellPhoneNumber	Secondary Driver Cell Phone Number
1059	CustomReferenceNumber3	Custom Reference Number 3
1060	OfferRate	Offer Rate
1061	DeclaredValue	Declared Value
1063	OnHoldReason	On Hold Reason
1064	DesiredTemperature	Desired Temperature
1065	MinimumTemperature	Min Temperature
1066	MaximumTemperature	Max Temperature
1067	MinBuyRate	Min Buy Rate
1068	MaxBuyRate	Max Buy Rate
1069	ChildShipmentId	Child Shipment Id
1070	OriginCityMask	Origin City Mask
1071	OriginStateMask	Origin State Mask
1072	OriginPostalCodeMask	Origin Postal Code Mask
1073	DestinationCityMask	Destination City Mask
1074	DestinationStateMask	Destination State Mask
1075	DestinationPostalCodeMask	Destination Postal Code Mask
1076	InsuranceCommodity	Insurance Commodity
1077	InsuranceDeductible	Insurance Deductible
1078	InsuranceType	Insurance Type
1079	CommodityMarks	Commodity Marks
1080	ExternalCarrierConfirmationId	External Carrier Confirmation Id
5000	ShipmentIdString	Shipment Id
5001	LineHaulCarrierProNumberClean	Linehaul Carrier Pro Number Clean
5002	TerminalOriginName	Terminal Origin Name
5003	TerminalDestinationName	Terminal Destination Name

Front-office vs back-office visibility

Each of your custom reference numbers can be set to display in the front office, the back office, or both. In V2 shipment payloads — webhook deliveries and the EDI 210 (Invoice Create with Shipment) — custom reference numbers are filtered to match the audience receiving the payload:

Broker / back-office recipients see every custom reference number.
Customer / front-office recipients see only the custom reference numbers marked to display in the front office.
A custom reference number with no visibility setting is shown to both.

Standard reference types (the ones listed above) are never filtered — they always appear regardless of audience.

The audience is determined automatically from the organization receiving the payload. To override it for a specific integration — for example, an EDI partner set up under a customer organization that still needs the full back-office reference set — set the RecipientType parameter on the integration source to Broker or Customer (not case-sensitive). Any other value falls back to the automatic behavior.