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Beacon combines visibility with forwarding services. If you use only the tracking API, moving to Terminal49 gives you direct terminal integrations (holds, fees, LFD) and 30+ webhook events. This guide covers the tracking API only, not their forwarding service. There is no compatibility shim. You will change your request code and your response parsing. For most integrations that is an afternoon.

Start in sixty seconds

You do not need to talk to anyone to try this.
1

Create an account

Sign up at app.terminal49.com. The free Developer Key tracks up to 10 active containers.
2

Generate an API key

3

Make your first request

The full API key is shown once, right after you create it. Copy it before you navigate away. After that it is masked and cannot be revealed. If you miss it, create a new key and delete the old one.
If you want to test without a live shipment, use the test tracking numbers, which simulate success, failure, and edge-case outcomes.

The architectural shift

Beacon gives you a shipment-centric API. You call it with a number, get current state back, and own the schedule, the cache, and the deduplication. Terminal49 splits this in two. You register a tracking request once. We keep it updated and push changes to your webhook.

Before: Beacon

Cron every few hours, call Beacon’s shipment endpoint, diff against your cache, dedupe events, then write to your database. Every call spends quota. Freshness is capped by your polling interval.

After: Terminal49

POST /tracking_requests once. Terminal49 polls carriers, terminals, and rail, then POSTs to your endpoint as things change. No cache layer, no dedupe logic.
You can keep polling if you prefer. Point your existing scheduler at GET /v2/shipments or GET /v2/containers. But webhooks are the reason the API is shaped this way, and terminal data (holds, fees, last free day) changes on a cadence that polling tends to miss.

Quick comparison

Authentication

Move the key into the Authorization: Token header and set the content type to application/vnd.api+json.
Note the Token prefix. It is not Bearer.

Request parameter mapping

Terminal49 takes one identifier per tracking request. Track by BOL and we return every container on that bill of lading as related container resources.

Response field mapping

Terminal49 is JSON:API compliant, so relationships between shipments, containers, ports, and terminals are explicit rather than something you reassemble from ID references. Use the include parameter to sideload related resources in one call instead of chasing IDs.

Shipment level

Container level

Beacon may return a single equipment code string like 45G1. Terminal49 splits this into three normalized fields: type (dry, reefer, open top, flat rack, tank, hard top), length (20, 40, 45, 50), and height (standard, high cube). If you were parsing equipment codes yourself, you can delete that code.

Locations, facilities, and vessels

Milestone and event mapping

Beacon returns a flat events array with status codes or names. Terminal49 exposes the same milestones as normalized transport events and pushes each one to your webhook. Terminal49 also emits milestones Beacon has no equivalent for:
  • Vessel berthed: container.transport.vessel_berthed
  • Available for pickup: container.transport.available and .not_available
  • Transshipment: arrived, discharged, loaded, departed
  • Feeder vessel and barge: arrived, discharged, loaded, departed
  • Rail: loaded, departed, arrived, unloaded, plus arrived_at_inland_destination
See the full event catalog.

Registering a webhook

Payloads are HMAC-signed. See webhook setup for signature verification, and List webhook IPs if your firewall restricts inbound traffic.

What you gain

This is the part worth reading even if the rest is mechanical. Terminal49 integrates with terminals directly, not only carriers, so the container object carries operational data that has no Beacon equivalent.

Holds

holds_at_pod_terminal is an array of active holds blocking pickup:
Hold names are freight, customs, USDA, VACIS, TMF, and other. Status is hold or pending. When a hold clears, the object is removed from the array. There is no released state.
Hold names are case-sensitive. USDA, VACIS, and TMF are uppercase; freight, customs, and other are lowercase. Match exactly.

Fees

fees_at_pod_terminal carries type, amount, and currency:
Fee types are demurrage, extended_dwell_time, exam, total, and other.
Some terminals report a total line item alongside individual fees. Filter it out before summing or you will double-count.

Last free day

pickup_lfd is a coalesced value that follows a fixed source priority: shipping line, then terminal, then rail. It does not pick the earliest date. The individual sources are available separately on import_deadlines:
  • pickup_lfd_line: the shipping line’s LFD (per diem deadline)
  • pickup_lfd_terminal: the terminal’s LFD (demurrage deadline)
  • pickup_lfd_rail: the rail carrier’s LFD at the inland destination
Each has its own webhook event, so you can alert on whichever source your operation cares about.

Release readiness

Two fields answer “can I pick this up?” available_for_pickup and the holds array:
Full detail in Holds, Fees, and Release Readiness.
Holds, fees, LFD, and availability come back on the container object wherever the terminal is a supported source. They are not a paid add-on and they do not require a sales conversation. See Entitlements for the features that do require account enablement. Rail LFD and the embeddable widget are the main ones.

Gotchas that will bite you

Beacon also offers freight forwarding and booking management. Terminal49 does not. If your integration uses Beacon forwarding APIs, plan to keep Beacon for those or replace them separately.
POST /tracking_requests returns immediately with a pending status. The shipment appears once the carrier responds. Subscribe to tracking_request.succeeded and tracking_request.failed rather than expecting shipment data in the creation response. A request may also land in awaiting_manifest if the carrier has not manifested the shipment yet, and we retry automatically. See Tracking Request Lifecycle.
Terminal49 returns JSON:API, not flat JSON. Relationships are ID references into an included array. Use a JSON:API client library, or use include to sideload exactly what you need. Parsing raw JSON works but you will write more code than you expect.
Beacon may return local time or timezone-naive timestamps. Terminal49 stores event timestamps in UTC and returns the matching IANA timezone alongside. Convert for display rather than assuming local time. See Event Timestamps.
holds_at_pod_terminal: [] and fees_at_pod_terminal: [] mean no active holds or fees. This is the common case. Do not treat it as missing data.
Terminal changes (fees, holds, LFD, appointment, availability) arrive on container.updated with a changeset showing old value first, new value second. Use it instead of diffing state yourself.

Error handling

Beacon returns HTTP status codes with error details in the response body. Terminal49 also uses standard HTTP status codes. Replace any Beacon-specific error parsing with status-code checks. Rough equivalence for the Beacon errors you are handling today: The TypeScript SDK maps these to typed errors (AuthenticationError, ValidationError, RateLimitError, UpstreamError, FeatureNotEnabledError, AuthorizationError, NotFoundError) and retries rate-limit and server errors automatically with exponential backoff.

Where we are narrower than Beacon

Worth knowing before you commit. Carrier count. Terminal49 integrates directly with 36 ocean carriers, plus 2 more enabled on request, as of 14 August 2026. Beacon may list more. Ours are direct integrations covering the lines that move volume into North America, and each is normalized into one schema. Check your carrier mix against the ocean carrier list before cutover, and read the known issues section there. We publish the per-carrier field gaps. Terminal data is North America. Holds, fees, LFD, and availability come from direct terminal integrations concentrated in the US and Canada, with European ports expanding. Ocean milestones work globally; terminal-level operational data does not yet. No air, parcel, or road tracking. If your integration covers those modes, this migration handles only the ocean portion. No freight forwarding or booking management. We do not offer forwarding services, rate calculators, or booking APIs. If your Beacon integration uses those, keep Beacon for them or replace them separately. Some fields are source-dependent. Seal number, container weight, and departure or arrival events vary by carrier. The field availability reference says which fields are always present and which depend on the carrier, terminal, or journey.

Migration checklist

Everyone does the base path. Then pick a branch.

Base path

1

Get a key

Self-serve at app.terminal49.com/developers/api-keys. Copy it immediately, it is shown once.
2

Switch authentication

Move the key to Authorization: Token. Note the Token prefix. Set Content-Type: application/vnd.api+json.
3

Check your carrier mix

Compare your Beacon carrier values against the carrier list. Flag anything missing before you cut over.
4

Create tracking requests

One POST /tracking_requests per BOL, booking, or container, replacing the per-request lookup.
5

Handle the async lifecycle

Tracking requests start pending. Handle succeeded, failed, and awaiting_manifest rather than expecting data on creation.
6

Update response parsing

JSON:API structure, split equipment fields, UTC timestamps with a separate timezone.
7

Update error handling

Replace Beacon-specific error parsing with HTTP status codes.
8

Backfill active shipments

Submit tracking requests for everything currently in transit. Send us the list if it is large and we will load it.
9

Add the terminal fields

Holds, fees, and LFD are the reason to do this properly rather than porting like for like.

Then pick one

1

Expose an HTTPS endpoint

Accept our POST payloads at a public URL.
2

Register a webhook

Subscribe only to events you act on.
3

Verify HMAC signatures

Reject any payload whose signature does not match.
4

Whitelist our IPs

Only needed if your firewall restricts inbound traffic.
5

Trigger a test delivery

Confirm end-to-end before going live.
6

Retire your polling job

Remove your dedupe layer along with it.
See webhook best practices for retries and idempotency.

Migrate with an AI coding agent

If you use Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf, Copilot, or another AI coding assistant, hand it the prompt below. It is written to run a side-by-side migration: the agent stands up a Terminal49 client next to your existing Beacon code, shadows every Beacon call with a Terminal49 call, diffs the responses, and only cuts over once parity is proven.
Point your agent at this page as context (paste the URL or add it as a doc source). The prompt references the mappings above, so the more of this page the agent can see, the better it does.
  1. Open your repo in your AI coding tool.
  2. Add this page as a documentation source, or paste its URL into the chat.
  3. Copy the prompt below into a new chat and send it.
  4. Answer the agent’s discovery questions (Beacon client location, env var names, carrier mix).
  5. Review each PR the agent opens. It should ship in small, reviewable steps: client, shadow, parity harness, cutover, cleanup.
  • A Terminal49Client alongside your existing BeaconClient, sharing the same interface where possible.
  • A shadow-mode wrapper that calls both providers and logs response diffs without changing behavior.
  • A parity report per shipment: matched fields, diverged fields, and Terminal49-only fields (holds, fees, LFD).
  • A feature-flagged cutover: route reads to Terminal49, keep Beacon as fallback until you flip the flag off.
  • A webhook receiver with HMAC verification, or a polling scheduler, depending on which path you pick.
  • A cleanup PR that removes Beacon code, env vars, dependencies, and dedupe logic.

The prompt

Copy this into your agent. Replace the bracketed placeholders in the Repo context block before sending.
Terminal49 migration agent prompt
The prompt is deliberately opinionated on side-by-side migration and small PRs. If your team prefers a big-bang cutover or a different branching model, edit the Plan section before sending it to your agent.

Getting help

Send us your list of active container and bill of lading numbers and we will load them rather than making you script the backfill. If something in this mapping is wrong or incomplete, tell us. We would rather fix the page than have you work around it.

API reference

Every endpoint, with request and response schemas

TypeScript SDK

Typed client with retries and pagination built in

Coverage

Carriers, terminals, rail, and field availability

Test numbers

Simulate success, failure, and edge cases