SmartFreight

SmartFreight is a shipping management platform for rate comparison and consignment tracking.

Overview

The SmartFreight connector lets Spojit workflows compare freight rates across carriers, create and manage consignments, and pull tracking events. It's particularly popular for AU/NZ multi-carrier setups where rate shopping per shipment makes a meaningful difference to margin.

Use it as the rate-quote step in fulfilment workflows (quote rates, route to the cheapest carrier, create the consignment), as the tracking source for customer notifications, or as the consignment-creation step for orders coming out of your ERP or storefront.

What You Can Do

The SmartFreight connector exposes these tools:

• get-delivery-options - List available carriers and services for a given origin and destination.
• calculate-rate - Quote the rate for a specific carrier + service + package.
• cost-comparison - Run a rate comparison across multiple carriers in one call.
• import-consignment - Create a new consignment (the SmartFreight name for a labelled shipment).
• get-consignment - Retrieve a consignment by reference.
• find-consignment - Search for consignments by reference, status, or date.
• delete-consignment - Cancel a consignment.
• tracking-events - Pull carrier tracking events for an existing consignment.
• raw-soap-request - Escape hatch for SOAP endpoints not covered by the dedicated tools.

Authentication

SmartFreight uses SOAP-style username and password authentication. Get the credentials from your SmartFreight account administrator. Both values are needed when creating the connection in Spojit.

Setting Up Your Connection

1. Obtain the SmartFreight username and password from your account administrator.
2. In Spojit, go to Connections and click + Add Connection.
3. Search for SmartFreight and select it.
4. Enter the username and password.
5. Name the connection descriptively (e.g. SmartFreight - Production AU).
6. Click Save. Spojit calls a verification SOAP method and marks the connection Active.

Using in a Workflow

Add a Connector node, pick the SmartFreight connection, and use Direct Mode. A typical fulfilment workflow runs cost-comparison for the destination, picks the best result, then calls import-consignment with the chosen carrier and service. Use Agent Mode sparingly - SmartFreight's tool inputs are detailed and benefit from explicit field mapping.

Tips

• Use cost-comparison instead of multiple calculate-rate calls - it's one round trip and SmartFreight's SOAP endpoint is the dominant latency cost.
• Stash your most common origin warehouses in a Spojit Variable so they don't have to be repeated in every workflow.
• Pair tracking-events with a scheduled job (every 30-60 minutes) to push status updates to your customers via Slack, email, or your storefront.
• For dangerous goods or refrigerated freight, use raw-soap-request - the special-handling flags aren't covered by the convenience tools.

Common Pitfalls

• SOAP timeouts - SmartFreight's underlying SOAP service can be slow during peak periods. Set a generous timeout (60-90 seconds) on each Connector node.
• Carrier-specific fields - import-consignment takes a generic schema, but some carriers require specific extra fields (e.g. Australia Post requires a chargeable barcode). Check the response for warnings.
• Reference uniqueness - SmartFreight rejects consignments with duplicate references. Use your source order ID + a suffix to keep references unique across retries.
• Tracking event lag - Carrier events flow into SmartFreight on a delay (often 15-60 minutes). Don't poll tracking-events faster than every 15 minutes.

Common Use Cases

• Create Shipping Labels Automatically with SmartFreight
• Route Orders to Different Carriers Based on Destination
• Export Daily Shipment Reports to CSV via FTP
• Send Tracking Notifications via Slack When Orders Ship

Related Articles

• Adding a New Connection
• DHL Express
• Shippit
• ShipStation

For technical API details and field specifications, see the SmartFreight connector documentation.