Patent ID: 7761348

Claim:
An integrated global shipment system comprising: one or more computers having one or more processors and one or more memory devices, said one or more memory devices storing a shipment consolidation application program from which said one or more processors reads and executes instructions, wherein the shipment consolidating application program includes instructions for: (1) receiving a request for consolidating a plurality of child shipments into a consolidated freight shipment, each child shipment of said plurality of child shipments comprising a plurality of packages, each child shipment of said plurality of child shipments having an identical destination county (2) receiving shipping data for each of said child shipments; (3) generating a consolidated freight shipment reference number; (4) processing each child shipment of said plurality of child shipments through the steps of: (a) determining from said shipping data whether said child shipment is a LTL (Less-than-Truckload) child shipment; (b) responsive to the determination that said child shipment is a LTL child shipment, (i) identifying from said shipping data a LTL shipment reference number that identifies said child shipment; and (ii) associating said LTL shipment reference number with said consolidated freight shipment reference number; and (c) responsive to the determination that said child shipment is not a LTL child shipment, (i) identifying from said shipping data one or more package reference numbers that respectively identify each package associated with said child shipment; and (ii) associating each of said one or more package reference numbers with said consolidated freight shipment reference number; and (d) storing the associations in step (b)(ii) or (c)(ii) in a data file; and (5) generating a consolidated shipment output based in part upon said data file.