Shipment Hold Codes — Complete Reference

Shipment Hold Codes are one-character alphabetic codes that answer a narrow but frustrating question: the materiel is picked, packed, marked, and ready — so why hasn't it shipped? When MILSTRIP-requisitioned materiel is delayed at a shipping activity after it has been made ready for shipment, the shipping activity records the reason on the shipment planning worksheet using the appropriate code, and reports it in the MILSTRIP shipment status (DIC AS_/AU_, DLMS 856S) and materiel release confirmation transactions, in record position 51. The code list is DLM 4000.25, Volume 2, Appendix 7.17.

At a glance

• What it is: A one-position alpha code naming the reason ready-to-ship materiel is being held at the shipping activity.
• When it applies: Only after pick, pack, and mark — delays before that point are the territory of supply status, not shipment hold.
• Where it rides: Record position 51 in shipment status and materiel release confirmation transactions. On requisition and MRP documents, rp 51 is the signal code — the position is document-type-dependent.
• Regulatory source: DLM 4000.25, Volume 2, Appendix 7.17 (revised November 26, 2019).
• Who sees it: Status recipients designated by the requisition's Media and Status code receive the shipment status transactions that carry it.

Complete code table

How the code is used

The hold code exists because "shipped" and "ready to ship" are different facts, and the customer watching supply status can't tell them apart without it. Once materiel release is confirmed but movement stalls, the shipping activity's hold code flows to every status-eligible recipient through the shipment status transactions, telling the requisitioner whether the delay is:

• Transportation-driven — consolidation (A), carrier equipment (B), traffic release (C), air-clearance challenges and mode diversions (D, E, K, N), delivery-date pacing (M).
• External events — embargo (F), strikes and civil commotion (G), acts of God (H).
• Customer- or consignee-driven — cancellation processing (J), consignee-requested delay (L).
• Compliance and data problems — wood-packing-material remediation (W), invalid or missing transportation account code (S).
• Disposition Services holds — receipt-in-place property awaiting instructions (R), redistribution orders pending release (X).

For code X, the hold is also an inventory control: the held redistribution stock is not available for alternate use, and when the materiel actually ships, shipment status is reissued without a hold code to clear it.

Worked example

A unit's high-priority requisition shows materiel release confirmed on Monday, but nothing arrives. The follow-up pulls shipment status carrying Shipment Hold Code B — the shipment unit is packed and sitting on the dock awaiting carrier equipment. No supply action is needed and a duplicate requisition would be exactly the wrong move; the delay belongs to transportation, and the hold code says so. Had the code been S, the fix would be administrative — a valid transportation account code — and the unit's transportation office, not the source of supply, owns the correction.

Common errors and gotchas

• Reading rp 51 without checking the document type. On requisition and MRP documents rp 51 is the signal code; on shipment status documents it is the shipment hold code. Same position, unrelated meanings — the DIC decides.
• Chasing the source of supply for a transportation hold. A hold code means the supply side is done — the item is picked, packed, and marked. Resubmitting or following up the requisition won't move a shipment stuck on B, C, or F.
• Treating a hold as a lost shipment. Z in particular is a sub-24-hour pause; A and M are routine movement management. Escalate on the codes that name real impediments, not on the existence of a hold code.
• Missing the hold because status was suppressed. Shipment hold codes arrive in shipment status transactions — a requisition whose Media and Status code suppressed or narrowed status distribution may leave the ordering activity blind to the hold. (Mandatory shipment status to the ship-to activity still flows.)
• Assuming every letter is assignable. I is excluded from the code set, O, T–V, and Y are reserved, and P and Q are not listed in the appendix at all.

Related codes and cross-references

• Supply Status Codes — the pre-shipment side of order visibility; hold codes take over once materiel is ready to ship.
• Signal Codes — the other occupant of record position 51, on requisition and MRP documents.
• Document Identifier Codes (DIC) — AS_/AU_ shipment status transactions are where hold codes ride; the DIC disambiguates rp 51.
• Media and Status Codes — determine which activities receive the shipment status transactions carrying the hold code.
• Transportation Control and Movement Document (TCMD) — the transportation-side documentation for the movement the hold is delaying.
• DLA Disposition Services — the activity behind hold codes R and X.

Authoritative references

• DLM 4000.25, Volume 2 — Supply Standards and Procedures, Appendix 7.17 (Shipment Hold Codes). The authoritative code list; revised November 26, 2019. Published in the Defense Logistics Management Standards library.
• DLM 4000.25, Volume 2, Appendix 7.10 — Signal Codes. The requisition-side meaning of record position 51.
• DLA Customer Assistance Handbook (print edition, December 2023). DLA's public customer reference reproducing the shipment hold code list.

Last verified

This reference was last reviewed on 2026-07-06. The code table was verified verbatim against DLM 4000.25, Volume 2, Appendix 7.17 (revised November 26, 2019, within the April 2026 volume edition, in hand — including direct re-extraction from the PDF to confirm that codes P and Q are absent from the appendix) and corroborated against the DLA Customer Assistance Handbook (December 2023). To suggest a correction, use the site's correction path.