A freight claim runs on rules a parcel claim never touches. The evidence is created at the tailgate, the filing window is measured in months rather than days, and the payout is capped by a released value per pound instead of by what the goods cost. This page lays out the sequence, with each deadline traced to the federal rule or the carrier tariff it comes from.
The delivery receipt is the last document created while everybody can still see the freight.
A parcel claim starts when somebody opens a box and finds a problem. A freight claim starts earlier than that, on a piece of paper the driver is holding while the pallet is still on the liftgate. Count the handling units against the delivery receipt, walk the shrink wrap, look at the corners and the bottom boards, and write what is wrong on the receipt before you sign it. Once the truck pulls away, the receipt says the freight arrived in the condition described, and everything after that is an uphill argument.
The exception you write is not the claim, and that catches people out. Federal rules are explicit: bad order reports, appraisal reports, notations of shortage or damage on freight bills or delivery receipts, and inspection reports issued by carriers or their inspection agencies, standing alone, do not meet the minimum filing requirements, whether or not they put a number on the loss. That is 49 CFR 370.3(c), read at ecfr.gov on 2026-07-29. The notation keeps the door open. Somebody still has to walk through it in writing.
| Clock | How long | Starts running | Published in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concealed damage notice | Five days, in writing | The date of delivery | R+L note G under item 170, which cuts it to 24 hours on shipments moving under its doorstep delivery service |
| Filing a damage claim | Nine months at least | The date of delivery | 49 U.S.C. 14706(e)(1); the same carrier note sets its own window at that floor |
| Filing a loss claim | Nine months at least | The date on the bill of lading, not the date the freight failed to turn up | R+L note G under item 170 |
| Carrier acknowledgement | Thirty days | The carrier receiving the claim | 49 CFR 370.5(a) |
| Pay, decline, or offer a firm compromise | One hundred and twenty days | The carrier receiving the claim | 49 CFR 370.9(a) |
| Written status update | Every sixty days after that | The 120-day mark passing with the claim still open | 49 CFR 370.9(a) |
| Suing on a denial | Two years at least | The written notice telling you part of the claim is disallowed | 49 U.S.C. 14706(e)(1) |
Read the statute carefully and you find it does not grant nine months. It forbids a carrier from writing anything shorter than nine months into its rules, contract or bill of lading, and forbids anything shorter than two years for suit. Almost every tariff then sits exactly on that floor, so the practical answer and the legal one match. The split between damage and loss is the part worth memorising: damage counts from delivery, loss counts from the day the bill of lading was issued, and on a shipment that vanished early those two dates can be weeks apart.
Three elements, and they come straight out of 49 CFR 370.3(b). A written communication, filed with a proper carrier inside the window in the bill of lading, that identifies the shipment well enough for the carrier to find it, asserts that the carrier is liable, and demands a specified or determinable amount of money.
A parcel network expects damage to be discovered later and builds its process around that. Freight expects a consignee with a clipboard, and treats a clean signature as a statement of fact about the condition of the pallet.
A carrier releases freight at a value per pound tied to the classification you billed, then multiplies by the weight of the packages that were hurt. What the goods cost is a ceiling, not the measure.
Transportation charges and the cargo claim are separate accounts, and every rules tariff carries an item about failure to pay freight charges. Withholding the invoice as leverage tends to close the claim rather than accelerate it.
Everything on this site under the heading of claims was written for a parcel: the carrier portals, the photo requirements, the timelines and the evidence lists all belong to that world. This page is the freight counterpart, and the two processes overlap far less than the shared word suggests.
At least nine months. Federal law bars a carrier from writing a shorter window into its rules, its contract or its bill of lading, and most tariffs sit exactly on that floor. Damage counts from the delivery date; loss counts from the date on the bill of lading.
The shipment is recorded as delivered in good order. Anything found afterwards becomes a concealed damage report, which carries a far shorter window than the claim itself, commonly five days in writing.
No. Federal rules say that a notation of shortage or damage on a delivery receipt or freight bill, standing alone, does not satisfy the filing requirements, even when it names a figure. It protects the claim. A separate written claim still has to be filed.
Thirty days to acknowledge the claim in writing, and one hundred and twenty days to pay it, decline it, or make a firm compromise offer. If it is still open at that point the carrier owes a written status update every sixty days.
Treat the invoice and the claim as separate accounts. Every rules tariff carries an item covering failure to pay transportation charges, and holding the invoice back as leverage usually stalls the claim rather than moving it.