How detection works
TrackJet's detector recognises formats structurally — length, prefixes, and check digits — so a typo is caught before any lookup. These are the formats per vertical, each with a structurally valid example you can try.
Air cargo (AWB)
IATA air waybills: 123-12345678 — a 3-digit airline prefix, a hyphen (optional when pasting), 7 digits, and a mod-7 check digit. How it is calculated: take the 7-digit serial number (WITHOUT the airline prefix — the prefix never participates), divide by 7, and the remainder is the check digit. Example: 020-12345675 → serial 1234567, and 1234567 mod 7 = 5, the final digit. The result page shows the airline resolved from the prefix.
Ocean containers
ISO 6346: four letters (owner code + equipment category, e.g. MSCU) + 6 digits + a check digit: MSCU1234566. The check digit catches the most common transcription errors.
How the ISO 6346 check digit is calculated. Each of the first 10 characters (the 4 letters + 6 digits) gets a value. Letters map A=10, B=12, C=13, … Z=38, skipping every multiple of 11 (so 11, 22 and 33 are never used: K=21, L=23, V=34). Digits are their own value. Each character value is multiplied by 2^position (weights 1, 2, 4, 8, … 512 for positions 0–9), the products are summed, and that sum is taken modulo 11. The remainder is the check digit — and a remainder of 10 is written as 0. TrackJet validates this structurally before any lookup, so a mistyped container number is caught immediately.
Bills of lading
B/L numbers have no universal checksum — each carrier formats its own (often a SCAC prefix like MAEU + digits). TrackJet matches known carrier patterns; unknown patterns fall back to a carrier picker.
International post (UPU S10)
Two letters + 9 digits + two-letter country code, with a check digit: RR123456785IT. The leading letters encode the service (R = registered, E = EMS, C = parcel…).
Parcels
Carrier-specific formats: UPS 1Z numbers (e.g. 1Z999AA10123456784), DHL waybills (10 digits) and DHL eCommerce (GM…/LX…), FedEx 12/15/20-digit, DPD 14-digit, Royal Mail S10-style. The detector picks the carrier from the structure; when two carriers could both match, you choose.
Tips
- Spaces and hyphens are ignored — paste numbers exactly as the carrier shows them.
- If detection fails, count the digits first: 90% of failures are a missing or extra character.