The Standard Carrier Alpha Code™ (SCAC®) is a unique two-to-four-letter code used to identify transportation companies. NMFTA developed the SCAC identification codes in the mid 1960's to facilitate computerization in the transportation industry.
The Standard Carrier Alpha Code is the recognized transportation company identification code used in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 and United Nations EDIFACT approved electronic data interchange (EDI) transaction sets such as the 856 Advance Ship Notice, the 850 Purchase Order and all motor, rail and water carrier transactions where carrier identification is required. The SCAC is required on tariffs filed with the Surface Transportation Board (STB).
Each Standard Carrier Alpha Code is published by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association, Inc. The SCAC data is available via an online search engine on the internet through SCAC Online. If you require a data download, SCAC data is accessible Quarterly or Daily by either FTP or email, both in UTF8 encoded ASCII format. The record length is 254 characters. The SCAC data is also available via a web service (SCAC Web Service) for real time integration into computer system.
Products
SCAC Online (Web-based)
- Easy lookup by SCAC, MC Number, USDOT Number, and Company Name
- Displays both active and inactive SCAC codes
- User friendly search functions
- Annual subscription product based on number of users
SCAC Data Distribution
- The SCAC FTP/E-Mail Daily Distribution Service provides a daily or quarterly distribution of SCAC codes in ASCII format via the customer's choice of FTP or email.
- Each daily file contains those SCAC codes that have been added, cancelled, and/or changed through 7:00 pm ET of the present day.
SCAC Web Service
SCAC Web Service allows subscribers to incorporate SCAC search and information retrieval functionality directly into their computer systems via our powerful and reliable search engine. For example, SCAC Web Service can be integrated directly with EDI and other internal systems to pull SCAC company name and address information for a record, validate that a SCAC is active, and retrieve other information such as the MC number and USDOT number.
SCAC Web Service is based on the SOAP 1.1 standard using standard XML delivered over HTTPS. This configuration has several benefits to the subscriber.
- By using SOAP, SCAC Web Service is implementation neutral, allowing it to be used by a wide variety of programming languages and operating systems.
- By using HTTPS, all the interactions are conducted securely over the Internet via encrypted channels.
- By using XML, a neutral data standard, SCAC web service can be used with any database product.
Management methods are available to assist with transaction accounting and usage statistics. SCAC Web Service also includes extensive sample code and documentation to assist you in integrating the web service into your company’s own internal systems.
SCAC Web Service is the SCAC data offered as a service for systems integration where NMFTA provides an advanced search engine to deliver the SCAC data thereby freeing the subscriber from all the expenses associated with SCAC data management. All you have to do is simply subscribe to the SCAC Web Service and tie it into your systems. SCAC Web Service is licensed on an annual subscription based on the number of service transactions per month.
The material in products containing the Standard Carrier Alpha Codes (SCAC) assigned by NMFTA are is copyrighted and is protected by the laws of the United States and other countries. Publication or reproduction of the SCAC, in whole or in part, in any public forum, such as a website, or the creation of any derivative works from the SCAC without specific licensing, is strictly prohibited.
