Freight Custody / Category
The handoff is a decision, not a blank space.
Freight Custody is the discipline of connecting expected transaction context to the people, equipment, authorization, and time observed when possession changes.
See the handoff logic
Physical handoff / operational view Why the category matters
Movement systems track freight. The custody moment needs its own record.
Phone calls, forwarded documents, screenshots, and operating assumptions can move a load forward while leaving the physical handoff difficult to reconstruct.
Freight Custody focuses attention on that gap: matching the expected transaction to the observed arrival and recording who authorized release.
Continuity across the event
Across the shipment. One reviewable line.
The framework does not replace dispatch, brokerage, transportation, or claims processes. It adds structured custody context around the handoff.
- 01
Dispatch context
Establish the carrier and assignment expected for the freight transaction.
- 02
Pickup handoff
Relate the arriving driver and equipment to the load and document authorization.
- 03
Delivery handoff
Carry the same custody discipline into the receiving-side transfer.
- 04
Retained history
Keep the evidence and timestamps needed to review the custody events afterward.
Where teams apply it
Use more diligence where uncertainty carries more weight.
The framework can support new carrier onboarding, pickup verification, high-value or fraud-sensitive shipments, delivery handoff documentation, risk review, and post-incident analysis.
Put a record around the custody moment.
See how SpotLock can support the verification and authorization steps in your operation.