Note: Only the fields marked in red are required for Shipment Director to process fully.

          Origin View

1. This view is the first page you will see if you have never used the Shipment Director. The Origin section allows you to enter in the country, state, city, zip code, and contact information of the ship-from location.
2. You may click "View My Locations" to select from a list of your locations to auto-fill this section.
3. Once all of the origin information is entered, click Enter First Shipment to continue.

After entering your origin information, you will be directed to enter the details for your first shipment. Simply enter the information you currently have regarding the first shipment. You may always update and add to this information from the Shipment Director summary view.

1. You may pull this shipment information directly from a previously created bill of lading, pickup request or template by selecting one from a dropdown list and clicking Retrieve. Selecting from these dropdowns will only pull remaining shipment information and not origin information.
2. In the New Destination and Third Party sections, you have the option to "View All Contacts".  This will give you a listing of all contacts that you have entered into My Contacts. Also, you may enter the first few letters of the contact's name and click "Lookup My Contact" and the remaining information for that contact will be filled in for you. Note: You may also choose to have all parties that you ship with to be automatically loaded into your My Contacts database.
3. If you plan to request a pickup for this shipment from the ABF Web site, you'll need to enter the contact information in this section.
4. If you plan to create shipping labels from the Shipment Director, enter the number of labels you'll need for this shipment.
5. Once you have completed entering your shipment information, you may select one of the following:

• Click Save & Enter Next Shipment to save your current shipment information and enter another shipment.
• Click Save & View Summary to save your current shipment information and continue on to a summary of your shipments.
• Click View Summary to continue on to the summary page without saving your current shipment information.

          Summary View

1. Your current origin is displayed at the top of the summary page. If multiple origins have been entered, the origin location can be changed by selecting from the Change Origin To: dropdown list and clicking Select. You will also see the number of pending shipments that you have for each origin location in the dropdown list.
2. Click Update to change the information that you have entered for the selected origin. Click Delete to permanently remove the selected origin as well as all shipments and recent activity associated with that origin. Click New to create another origin (see Origin View).
3. The Pending Shipments for this Origin section will summarize all shipments that have been entered for the selected origin and have not yet been processed.
4. Clicking the Enter New Shipment link will allow you to enter more shipments for the selected origin (see Shipment View). If you have pending shipments, a summary of the destination location, ship date, commodity information, and the date and time that this shipment was last entered/updated will be shown.
5. Click the Update link to change the shipment information or click the Remove link to permanently delete this shipment from the list.
6. You may perform an action on any pending shipment by selecting the checkbox associated with that shipment. Available actions include Generate Bill(s) of Lading, Generate Shipment Manifest, Generate Shipping Labels, or Request Pickup(s). Select any of these actions by checking the box and then clicking the Submit Actions button. The selected actions will be performed on each shipment in the pending shipments list.
7. Once an action has been performed on a pending shipment, it will be moved from the Pending Shipments for this Origin section to the Recent Activity section. The Recent Activity section will summarize all shipments that have been successfully processed.
8. You may click the activity links to view the specific documents/information. For example, clicking BOL 08/01 14:14 will show you your Bill of Lading created on 8/1 at 2:14 pm.
9. Clicking Copy will create a duplicate shipment (with a blank ship date) in the pending shipments section. Activities that are copied still remain in the recent activity list. Click the Remove link to permanently delete a shipment from the recent activity list.
10. You may delete multiple activities by checking the appropriate boxes and clicking the Delete Selected link.
11. The Related Reports section gives you quick access to status reports and the Shipment Planner.

1. Pickup request information will appear at the top of the results page. If any errors occur while processing a request, you will be asked to correct them and resubmit the request.
2. Documents may be viewed by clicking on their associated links. Generated documents (bills of ladings, shipping labels, manifests) will also be available in the summary section (see Summary View).
3. Follow the Next Steps to return to the summary page, go to the eCenter Tools home page, or go to the ABF home page.

Can I use the information from past bills of lading or pickup requests as starting point for new shipments in the Shipment Director?

Yes. To use information from past bills of ladings or pickup requests, select previously created BOLs, Pickups, or Templates on the Shipment Information screen (see Step 2).

What is a shipment manifest and how does it differ from a bill of lading?

A shipment manifest is similar to a Bill of Lading in that it is a contract between ABF and the shipper for the transportation of goods. The manifest allows you to include multiple shipments shipped to different destinations on the same document instead of printing out several different bills of lading. It also provides you with summary information about all the shipments included in manifest. Just like the bill of lading, you must sign for the goods tendered, and the ABF driver must sign for each shipment.