Glossary
Co-brokering
Co-brokering is when one broker arranges for another broker to help cover a load, and both sides know about it. The first broker holds the customer relationship; the second broker finds and manages a carrier. Done openly and with permission, it is a legitimate way to move freight one broker cannot cover alone.
The line against double brokering
Co-brokering and double brokering look similar on the surface and are often confused, but the difference is consent and disclosure. Co-brokering is authorized: the arrangement is known to the parties and typically permitted under the relevant contracts. Double brokering is the same handoff done in the dark, without the shipper's or original broker's knowledge, so the freight ends up with a carrier nobody vetted and the payment chain can break.
Why it matters
Many broker-carrier agreements restrict or forbid re-brokering precisely to keep an authorized co-broker arrangement from sliding into an unauthorized one. For a shipper, the practical concern is the same either way: knowing which carrier actually hauled the load, and whether that carrier was vetted. The federal record identifies the carrier that ends up with the freight; the paperwork should agree with it.
Consent is the dividing line
The same physical handoff, one broker's load ending up managed by another, is legitimate when disclosed and permitted and a problem when hidden. Contracts usually address it directly: a co-brokering arrangement is allowed under terms both sides agreed to, while an undisclosed re-brokering breaches the no-re-brokering clause most agreements carry.
A concrete case
A broker covering a customer's freight is short on trucks in a region and asks a partner broker to source a carrier, with the customer aware that a partner is involved. Payment and responsibility are set between the two brokers, and the carrier is vetted before it hauls. That is co-brokering. The same load, moved by a carrier the customer never knew about and never vetted, with the original broker unaware, is double brokering. The freight moved either way; the difference is who knew and who agreed.
Related terms
Double brokering
Re-brokering a load to another carrier without the original broker's or shipper's knowledge. The freight moves under a carrier nobody vetted and payment chains break; it's the load-board era's defining fraud pattern.
Broker of record
The broker that holds the contractual relationship for a given shipment or account and is responsible for it. Establishing who the broker of record is matters when a load passes between parties.
Freight broker authority
FMCSA licensing that lets a company arrange transportation for compensation without hauling the freight itself. A broker holds broker authority and a surety bond, not motor-carrier authority.
fleetfax reads public FMCSA data and is not affiliated with FMCSA or the U.S. Department of Transportation. This page explains terminology; it is not legal advice.