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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

X12 217 — Motor Carrier Loading and Route Guide

The 217 communicates a motor carrier's loading and routing instructions to its partners: stop sequence, time windows, access constraints, transit terminals.

Purpose

The 217 lets a carrier publish its routing guide over EDI: for each (origin, destination) pair, which transit terminal to use, which equipment, which time windows are accepted, which weight or size restrictions apply. Shippers and consignees can then plan pickups in line with the carrier's real capacity.

In practice the 217 stays a minority format: most carriers prefer to publish their routing guide as PDF + proprietary portal. When the 217 is used, it usually updates critical routings (temporary deviations, terminal closures).

Envelope structure

The 217 travels in a functional group LR (Loading and Route). Didactic example in release 004010:

x12 example-217.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*ACMECARRIER   *ZZ*ACMESHIPPER   *260514*0700*U*00401*000000217*0*P*>~
GS*LR*ACMECARRIER*ACMESHIPPER*20260514*0700*1*X*004010~
ST*217*0001~
BNX*00*RG-2026-009*20260514~
N1*CA*ACME CARRIER*92*CA-077~
LX*1~
S5*1*LD~
N1*SH*ACME WAREHOUSE 1*92*WH-001~
G62*10*20260515*1*0830*LT~
SE*7*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000217~

The BNX (Beginning Segment) opens the routing guide. The LX loops list routing segments: S5 for the stop sequence, N1 for the points, and G62 for time windows.

Common segments

  • Header — ST, BNX (Beginning Segment), DTM.
  • Carrier — N1 (CA = Carrier).
  • Routing — LX loop with S5 (Stop Off Details), N1 (SH, CN, TM = Terminal), G62 (Date/Time Qualifier).
  • Constraints — K1 (Remarks), NTE.
  • Summary — SE.

Common pitfalls

  • Time windows: G62 with qualifier LT and ET must reflect the carrier policy exactly, or shippers will keep trying out-of-window pickups.
  • Multi-mode: the 217 is road-only; intermodal routings (rail / ocean) require combining with other transactions.
  • Updates: a partial update requires a complete 217; no native delta.

Documentation

The code 217 and the name Motor Carrier Loading and Route Guide are public and listed on x12.org/products/transaction-sets.