What is a carrier scorecard?
A carrier scorecard is a monthly report card for each trucking company you subcontract: how reliably it accepts your loads, picks up and delivers on time, how often goods arrive short or damaged, and how well it keeps paperwork, tracking and invoices in order. Shippers, 3PLs and freight forwarders use it to decide who gets more loads, who needs an improvement plan and who is replaced at the next tender.
The Subcontracted Carrier Onboarding Pack checks a carrier before the first load. The scorecard takes over from there and measures every month.
Which KPIs does the scorecard use?
| KPI | Formula | Example target / red line / weight |
|---|---|---|
| Load acceptance | Loads accepted ÷ loads tendered | 95% / 85% / 10 |
| On-time pickup | On-time pickups ÷ loads delivered | 95% / 85% / 15 |
| On-time delivery | On-time deliveries ÷ loads delivered | 95% / 85% / 25 |
| Claims per 100 loads | Claims ÷ loads delivered × 100 | 0.5 / 2 / 15 |
| POD returned on time | PODs on time ÷ loads delivered | 95% / 80% / 10 |
| Loads tracked | Loads with a visible position during the trip ÷ loads delivered | 98% / 90% / 15 |
| Invoice accuracy | Invoices correct first time ÷ invoices | 98% / 90% / 5 |
| Valid documents | Vehicle and driver documents valid ÷ documents checked | 100% / 95% / 5 |
Every target, red line and weight is an example on the Settings sheet. Use the figures in your contracts or service level agreements; if you have none, agree them with your carriers before the first review.
How are carrier scores calculated?
A KPI at its target or better scores 100; at its red line or worse it scores 0. A KPI with no data in the month is left out and the other weights are scaled up, so a carrier is not penalized for missing invoices in a month it was not invoiced.
How to run the monthly carrier review
- Collect the counts in the first days of the month from load records, the POD register, invoices and your tracking system.
- Send each carrier its row before the meeting, so disputes about the data are settled first.
- Review red KPIs only: each one gets an action, a date and a responsible person on each side.
- Close actions with data: an action is done when next month's KPI shows it, not when the carrier says so.
- Use the trend at renewal: load allocation and tenders follow the year's scores, not the last bad week.
Worked example: four carriers in September 2026
- Al Waha Transport delivered 127 loads, 119 on time (94%), with no claims and every load tracked. Only on-time delivery is under target, so the total is 97, grade A, up 18 from August.
- Desert Line Logistics accepted 72 of 85 loads (85%), delivered 85% on time and had 3 claims: 4.2 per 100 loads. Five KPIs are at or beyond their red line and score 0, so the total is 20, grade D.
- Northern Trucks had only 30 of 40 loads visible on tracking (75%, below the 90% red line) and 85% on time. The total is 36, grade D, though up from 5 in August.
- The action log holds two actions: a second truck on a busy lane for Desert Line, and trackers on the remaining trucks for Northern Trucks.
Common mistakes with carrier scorecards
- Too many KPIs. Eight is already enough; more dilutes the weight of on-time delivery and claims.
- On-time from the carrier's own report. Use arrival times from your POD or from tracking, not the carrier's summary.
- Targets nobody agreed. A score against a target the carrier never saw starts an argument, not an improvement.
- Ranking small and large carriers alike. One late load moves a 10-load carrier by 10 points; read the load count with the score.
- Reviews without actions. A red KPI with no action and date will be red again next month.
What the template does not do
The scores compare each carrier with the targets you entered, not with a market standard. The workbook does not collect data from carriers or tracking systems; it calculates from the counts you enter. Contract penalties for late delivery are a separate calculation: use the Late Delivery Penalty Calculator. To check whether a carrier's price is fair, compare it with your own cost in the Freight Rate Card Calculator.