USTRANSCOM DTR Reference Codes

USTRANSCOM DTR Reference Codes refers to the standardized code tables — data element identifiers such as aerial port codes, transportation method codes, and cargo type codes — published and maintained alongside the Defense Transportation Regulation (DTR) by the U.S. Transportation Command's Defense Transportation Electronic Business (DTEB) program. Federal and military logisticians use these tables to correctly populate transportation and shipping documentation (such as the DD Form 1348-1A) and electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions across the Defense Transportation System.

What it is

The DTR reference codes are the code tables that support the Defense Transportation Regulation (DTR 4500.9-R), the DoD-wide regulation governing personal property, cargo movement, and passenger travel within the Defense Transportation System. Rather than being embedded solely in the DTR's PDF appendices, the current, authoritative versions of these code tables are published and kept up to date through USTRANSCOM's Reference Data Management program — publicly referred to as "Reference Data" on the DTEB website and, in its underlying system form, as TRDM (TRANSCOM Reference Data Management).

Who operates it

The tables are maintained by the Defense Transportation Electronic Business (DTEB) committee, which USTRANSCOM chairs. DTEB membership includes the military services, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), and the General Services Administration (GSA), reflecting the tables' use across the whole of the Defense Transportation System rather than any single service.

Access

USTRANSCOM's public DTEB Reference Data page states that the reference tables are accessible to all users, including DoD contractors and vendors, with no account required simply to view the published tables. The most current versions of the code tables are maintained in the TRDM system, reachable at a transport.mil address once inside the appropriate network. For DTEB account requests (needed for functions beyond simply viewing published reference data, such as submitting data-maintenance work requests), USTRANSCOM directs requesters to a dedicated DTEB account mailbox rather than a self-service portal.

How logisticians use it

Transportation and logistics personnel — government, military, and contractor — consult these code tables to correctly complete shipping and cargo-movement paperwork and EDI transactions that reference DTR-defined values: for example, aerial port codes, air commodity and dimension codes, cargo type and restraint device codes, and transportation method codes. Because the DTR itself is published in appendices by part (Part II covers cargo movement, for instance), the reference-data tables function as the authoritative, more frequently updated source for the code values those appendices define, reducing the risk of using a stale code from an older printed appendix.

Related systems

These reference codes are distinct from, but used alongside, other DTR-defined code systems referenced elsewhere in this directory, such as Transportation Account Codes (TAC) and service-specific shipment-document codes. They are also directly tied to the Defense Transportation Regulation itself, which USTRANSCOM publishes and updates on a rolling basis by part and appendix.