Glossary

Broker of record

The broker of record is the broker that holds the contractual relationship for a shipment or an account and carries responsibility for it: booking the carrier, owning the customer relationship, and standing behind payment. For any given load there is a broker of record even when other parties touch the freight.

Why establishing it matters

Freight can pass through several hands. When a broker uses another broker through co-brokering, or when a load is handed off, the question of who the broker of record is decides who owes the carrier, who the shipper looks to, and who is accountable if something goes wrong. Ambiguity about the broker of record is the confusion that double brokering exploits, because a carrier can be left unsure who actually engaged it and who is obligated to pay.

What to check

Clarity about the broker of record, backed by a rate confirmation and a broker-carrier agreement that name the parties, is what keeps the payment chain traceable. On the carrier side, confirming the hauling company's identity against its federal record is the parallel check. Clear paper and a verified carrier together are what a documented process produces.

A concrete case

A shipper books a load with Broker A. Broker A, through a disclosed co-brokering arrangement, brings in Broker B to source the truck. Broker A remains the broker of record: it holds the shipper relationship and stands behind the load. If instead Broker A quietly handed the load to Broker B with no one told, the broker-of-record line blurs, which is the ambiguity double brokering feeds on.

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