The Founding Register is open to enclosed carriers.
View the criteria →The Standard
They state what is required, what is confirmed, and what ends an account. They are published in advance and applied identically at every tier.
A cargo policy pays one limit per incident, not one limit per vehicle. A trailer carrying six vehicles at $150,000 each is a $900,000 claim against a single limit.
Every load on this network carries a declared value for everything on the trailer. That total is measured against the carrier's confirmed cargo limit. Loads above it are not sent to the account.
A tier is assigned from what the insurer confirms. It is not selected and it is not purchased. It moves when the coverage moves.
A declared value above a carrier's confirmed limit requires a per-trip endorsement, confirmed with the insurer, before the load can be accepted.
Brokers carry a second layer. Every broker on this network holds contingent cargo coverage at a limit meeting or exceeding the highest tier they are permitted to post, confirmed with their insurer the same way a carrier's is. Where a carrier's cargo coverage fails to pay, the broker's policy responds. Echelon Transport Network is not an insurer and holds no policy on any vehicle.
The federal government stopped requiring most for-hire carriers to file cargo coverage in March 2011. Authority is on the public record. Safety is on the public record. Auto liability is on the public record. Cargo coverage is on none of them.
What replaced it is a certificate the carrier prints.
Every carrier admitted to this network signs a standing authorization directing their insurer to confirm the policy with Echelon Transport Network, and to report any change, for the duration of the membership.
The insurer's agent of record is verified before contact — licence, line of authority, and appointment by the named insurer, checked against the national registry at contact details sourced independently. An agent not appointed by the insurer named on the certificate ends the application.
Five checks decide membership. Authority, pulled from the federal register. Insurance, confirmed with the insurer. Coverage history — inception date, continuity, prior cancellations. Equipment, registered by VIN and matched against the insurer's schedule. Identity, confirmed against state records.
Authorization is a condition of membership.
No load on this network identifies a vehicle by year, make, model or VIN. Every listing reads Echelon Vehicle.
The board displays the specification: city and state, ship window, length, width, height, clearance, weight, handling notes, equipment required, tier band and rate.
Everything else releases in sequence.
| Released | On |
|---|---|
| Pickup address and keyholder | Assignment |
| The pickup inspection | Verification clearing at the curb |
| Delivery address and keyholder | The pickup inspection being signed |
| Year, make, model and VIN | Verification clearing — to the driver, at the vehicle |
A carrier who accepts a load and then cancels never received the vehicle's identity or the addresses.
Both handoffs run through Echelon Custody Verification. How custody verification works
Client communication runs through the broker at every stage. The driver does not contact the client and does not see the client's phone number.
A policy confirmed in February can be cancelled in April. The certificate on file will still read as current through January.
Every member holds a confirmation valid through a stated date, visible to them from approval. Re-confirmation runs ahead of expiry, on a cycle, more frequently at higher tiers. A lapsed confirmation does not interrupt a load in progress — the account moves to the tier its last valid confirmation supports.
Accepting a load requires an affirmation that confirmed coverage remains in force. It is timestamped into the record.
Changes on the federal record act the day they post. An insurance filing cancellation, an authority change or a safety downgrade restricts the account immediately, pending fresh confirmation.
Members report coverage changes within 24 hours. Cancellation, non-renewal, limit reduction or change of insurer. Failure to report is disqualifying whether or not anything went wrong.
Coverage can lapse between confirmations. Every line carries a date, every load carries an affirmation, every federal change acts immediately, and every broker carries contingent coverage behind the carrier. The window is narrowed and documented. It is not eliminated.
Every violation is classified in advance, and the classification does not vary by account.
Late delivery · documentation error · late status update. A logged warning on the member's record.
Coverage lapse while active · unregistered driver or equipment at pickup · mishandled damage claim · a declared value that does not match the vehicle at pickup. A strike on the record. The account is reviewed before another load is accepted.
Fraud · falsified documentation · false attestation of coverage · failure to report a coverage change · evidence of theft or tampering. Permanent removal. No strikes and no appeal.
Members view their own record and the standard each entry was measured against.
Brokers are classified under the same system, at the same severities, with the same consequences.
Removal is permanent. Company legal name, DOT and MC numbers, principal names, reason code and date are retained so an expelled operator cannot re-enter under a new registration.
The largest member and the newest are held to identical requirements. No account receives an exception.