Carrier Onboarding

Carrier onboarding helps your team collect required information, verify readiness, and approve carriers before dispatch.

Recommended setup

Before inviting or importing carriers, decide:

• Which users can approve carriers
• Which documents are required
• Which monitoring provider, if any, will be used
• Whether imported carriers should start inactive
• How carrier payment details should be reviewed
• Who handles exceptions and rejections

Standard onboarding workflow

1. Add or find the carrier.
2. Confirm MC, DOT, name, and contact details.
3. Send an onboarding invite or use carrier monitoring provider data when available.
4. Review submitted or synced packet details.
5. Confirm insurance, authority, contacts, tax, and payment information.
6. Approve, reject, block, or keep the carrier inactive based on your policy.
7. Assign the carrier only after approval.

Invite and provider options

Users may be able to invite carriers for self-service onboarding, preview carrier information before inviting, or use details from a carrier monitoring provider. Use the option that matches how the carrier is already managed.

Preview provider data before sending an invite when that option is available. Advisory warnings should be reviewed, but they do not automatically reject or block a carrier unless your internal policy requires it.

Rejections and blocked carriers

If a carrier is rejected or blocked, keep the reason clear. Users reviewing the carrier later should be able to understand whether the issue is missing paperwork, compliance risk, payment details, duplicate records, or an internal business decision.

Carrier monitoring provider sync

If your organization already monitors carriers with a provider, contact support for the initial bulk import. Support can help bring monitored carrier data into ARK TMS. This is preferred over CSV import when provider data is available.

After import, sync individual carriers from the list or profile when you need the current provider record. Resolve provider conflicts before approving the carrier or assigning the first load.

CSV import

Use CSV import only when provider sync is not available or when support recommends it. Imported carriers may start inactive depending on your organization settings.

Best practices

• Review payment details before the first dispatch.
• Confirm documents are readable and current.
• Keep blocked carrier reasons clear.
• Re-check compliance before assigning high-risk or time-sensitive loads.
• Confirm drivers and dispatchers before the first assigned load.