How to Automate LTL Shipping

Why LTL is hard to automate

Traditional LTL was designed for phone calls and fax machines. The pricing model depends on NMFC freight classification, which requires looking up commodity codes for every product you ship. Get the class wrong and you get reclassified with a surprise invoice adjustment weeks later. Every carrier has different accessorial fee structures, fuel surcharge tables that change weekly, and minimum charge thresholds that vary by lane. Terminal routing adds unpredictability. Your 4 pallet shipment might pass through 3 to 5 terminals between origin and destination, each one a potential delay point and damage risk. Automating this system means integrating with each carrier individually, mapping their unique rate structures, and handling the inevitable exceptions.

How Warp simplifies LTL

Warp replaces the entire traditional LTL model. Instead of routing through carrier terminals, Warp routes through its own network of 50+ cross dock facilities. Instead of freight class based pricing, Warp uses all inclusive per pallet rates. You provide dimensions and weight. Warp returns a price. That price includes pickup by a local 3rd party carrier, handling at the cross dock, line haul to the destination region, and final delivery. No fuel surcharges. No terminal handling charges. No reclassification risk.

The result is LTL that behaves like an API should. One request in, one price out. The same price you see at quoting is the price on the invoice. This is what makes LTL automatable.

The Warp LTL workflow

Every Warp LTL shipment follows this path. Each stage generates scan events and GPS data that flow through the tracking API in real time.

That is 1 to 2 handoffs between pickup and delivery. Traditional LTL terminals involve 3 to 5 handoffs as freight moves through origin terminal, breakbulk, destination terminal, and sometimes intermediate sort facilities. Every additional handoff is a delay risk and a damage risk. Warp's cross dock model eliminates the intermediaries.

Automate with the API

The complete LTL automation workflow is four API calls: quote, book, track, and settle. Every call uses the same base URL, the same API key header, and returns structured JSON.

Step 1: Quote an LTL shipment

POST to /freights/quote with your origin, destination, pickup date, and pallet details. Set shipmentType to "LTL". You do not need to provide a freight class. Warp returns an all inclusive rate with transit time.

curl -X POST https://api.wearewarp.com/api/v1/freights/quote \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "apikey: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "pickupDate": ["2026-04-10"],
    "pickupInfo": {
      "zipCode": "30301",
      "city": "Atlanta",
      "state": "GA",
      "street": "100 Peachtree Industrial Blvd",
      "contactName": "Warehouse Team",
      "phone": "4045551234"
    },
    "deliveryInfo": {
      "zipCode": "28201",
      "city": "Charlotte",
      "state": "NC",
      "street": "500 Distribution Way",
      "contactName": "Receiving",
      "phone": "7045551234"
    },
    "listItems": [{
      "name": "Pallet - Consumer Goods",
      "length": 48, "width": 40, "height": 48,
      "sizeUnit": "in",
      "totalWeight": 750, "weightUnit": "lb",
      "quantity": 4,
      "packaging": "pallet",
      "stackable": true
    }],
    "shipmentType": "LTL"
  }'

Step 2: Book the shipment

Take the quoteId from the response and POST to /freights/booking. Include full addresses with contact info and any special instructions. Warp returns a shipmentId and trackingNumber immediately.

Step 3: Track through the cross dock network

POST to /freights/tracking with the tracking number. The response includes granular status events as the shipment moves through each stage: pickupSuccessful, arrivedAtWarehouse (cross dock), departedFromWarehouse, arrivedAtDelivery, delivered. Register webhook URLs in your Warp dashboard to receive these events pushed to your system in real time instead of polling.

Step 4: Settle and close

GET /freights/invoices/{orderId} for the invoice with line items and totals. GET /freights/documents/{orderId} for the BOL and proof of delivery. The invoice matches the quote because Warp pricing is all inclusive. No post shipment adjustments, no reclassification surprises.

Full Python automation example

This script quotes, books, and tracks an LTL shipment in one run. Copy it, replace YOUR_API_KEY, and execute.

import requests

API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"
BASE = "https://api.wearewarp.com/api/v1"
HEADERS = {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "apikey": API_KEY
}

# Step 1: Quote
quote = requests.post(f"{BASE}/freights/quote", headers=HEADERS, json={
    "pickupDate": ["2026-04-10"],
    "pickupInfo": {"zipCode": "30301", "city": "Atlanta", "state": "GA",
                   "street": "100 Peachtree Industrial Blvd",
                   "contactName": "Warehouse", "phone": "4045551234"},
    "deliveryInfo": {"zipCode": "28201", "city": "Charlotte", "state": "NC",
                     "street": "500 Distribution Way",
                     "contactName": "Receiving", "phone": "7045551234"},
    "listItems": [{
        "name": "Pallet", "length": 48, "width": 40, "height": 48,
        "sizeUnit": "in", "totalWeight": 750, "weightUnit": "lb",
        "quantity": 4, "packaging": "pallet", "stackable": True
    }],
    "shipmentType": "LTL"
}).json()

quote_id = quote["data"]["quoteId"]
print(f"Quote: {quote['data']['totalCost']} USD, {quote['data']['transitDays']} days")

# Step 2: Book
booking = requests.post(f"{BASE}/freights/booking", headers=HEADERS, json={
    "quoteId": quote_id,
    "pickupInfo": {"zipCode": "30301", "city": "Atlanta", "state": "GA",
                   "street": "100 Peachtree Industrial Blvd",
                   "contactName": "Warehouse", "phone": "4045551234",
                   "specialInstruction": "Dock 2, call ahead"},
    "deliveryInfo": {"zipCode": "28201", "city": "Charlotte", "state": "NC",
                     "street": "500 Distribution Way",
                     "contactName": "Receiving", "phone": "7045551234",
                     "specialInstruction": "Receiving 7am to 3pm"},
    "listItems": [{
        "name": "Pallet", "length": 48, "width": 40, "height": 48,
        "sizeUnit": "in", "totalWeight": 750, "weightUnit": "lb",
        "quantity": 4, "packaging": "pallet", "stackable": True
    }]
}).json()

tracking_num = booking["data"]["trackingNumber"]
print(f"Booked: {booking['data']['shipmentNumber']}")

# Step 3: Track
tracking = requests.post(f"{BASE}/freights/tracking", headers=HEADERS, json={
    "trackingNumbers": [tracking_num]
}).json()

for event in tracking["data"][0]["events"]:
    print(f"  {event['status']} at {event['location']} ({event['timestamp']})") 

Automate with AI coding tools

The Warp API is designed for machine consumption. Every endpoint returns structured JSON with explicit field names and enum values. AI coding tools like Claude Code can read the API documentation at developer.wearewarp.com/docs/freight/ or the machine readable context at wearewarp.com/llms-full.txt, then generate and execute the correct API calls.

# In your terminal, tell Claude Code what to ship:
#
# "Quote 4 pallets of consumer goods from Atlanta 30301 to Charlotte 28201,
#  each pallet 48x40x48 inches at 750 lbs. Ship LTL. If the rate is under
#  $600, book it and give me the tracking number."
#
# Claude Code reads the Warp API docs, generates the correct requests,
# and executes the full workflow: quote, evaluate, book, return tracking.

This works because Warp's LTL pricing is deterministic. The AI agent does not need to understand freight classes, negotiate rates, or handle accessorial surprises. It sends dimensions and weight, gets a price, and books if the price meets the criteria. The same workflow that takes a human 15 minutes of phone calls and portal clicking takes an AI agent 3 seconds of API calls.

Warp LTL vs traditional LTL

The differences that matter for automation.

Automated quality monitoring

Our AI backbone, Orbit, monitors every LTL shipment automatically. Orbit flags late pickups, late departures from cross dock facilities, missed scans, route deviations, dwell anomalies, temperature deviations, and delivery exceptions before your team has to chase them. For automated systems, this means your exception handling logic receives proactive alerts instead of discovering problems after the fact.

Frequently asked questions