In SAP S/4HANA Transportation Management, thefreight unitis the central object used to track and trace the entire journey of goods across multiple transportation stages. A freight unit represents a logistical unit of goods that are transported together, and it is used to manage and monitor the transportation process from start to finish, including all stages such as loading, transport, and unloading. According to the SAP S/4HANA Transportation Management documentation, freight units are created based on requirements (e.g., sales orders, deliveries) and serve as the basis for planning and execution. They contain all relevant information about the goods, such as weight, volume, and transportation requirements, and they remain consistent across multiple stages, enabling end-to-end tracking.
Freight bookings, freight orders, and consignment orders have different roles:
Freight bookingis used for ocean or air transport and typically represents a contract with a carrier for a specific shipment.
Freight orderis used for road or rail transport and represents the execution document assigned to a carrier.
Consignment orderis a logical grouping for communication between shippers and consignees, not primarily for tracking goods across stages.
The freight unit, however, is the only object that consistently tracks the goods across all stages of transportation, making it the correct choice.
[Reference:, SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, Transportation Management Study Guide: Unit 4 - Freight Order Management, Section on Freight Units and Tracking., SAP Help Portal: Transportation Management - Freight Units ()., ]
