SCAC — Standard Carrier Alpha Code
A SCAC is the two-to-four letter code that uniquely identifies a motor carrier in North American freight and customs systems, issued by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association.
In plain terms.
It is your carrier's identity in every system that is not looking at your name. Customs filings, electronic messages, load tenders and border references all key off it, and it is the prefix on the PAPS numbers you assign.
For a carrier crossing into the United States it is not optional, and it is not something to improvise. A wrong or missing SCAC on a filing means the entry cannot be matched to the truck presenting it, which produces exactly the kind of delay that looks inexplicable from the driver's seat. It also has to be renewed, which is the sort of annual task that quietly lapses.
Who deals with it
Held by the carrier as a company, used by dispatch on every cross-border filing.
When it shows up
On every US-bound customs reference, and on the paperwork that carries it.
What goes wrong
Typed per load instead of held once, or allowed to lapse at renewal and only discovered at a border.
How Lanexa handles it.
This lives in Settings, where 37 capabilities are live.