Tidal Shift

Standard Services Framework

Last updated 23 August 2026 · Version 2026-08-23

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This framework is the standard on which participants contract with each other for a service — a material owner and a carrier or service provider, and, where a receiving obligation applies, a processor. Tidal Shift publishes this standard and records and timestamps the steps by which a booking forms; it is not a party to the service contract.

All commercial payments for freight, materials and processing settle off the platform, directly between the participants (or a participant and its nominated funder). The platform holds, moves, collects and reconciles none of it.

A. Structure & formation

  • A1. Parties. The material owner and the carrier/service provider are the contracting parties (with a processor as a further party where a receiving obligation applies). The platform is not a party.
  • A2. Formation. This standard applies to every booking made through the platform. A binding contract forms between the participants when a booking is confirmed, on this standard plus that booking's particulars.
  • A3. Precedence & versioning. The standard plus the booking particulars form the contract. The version in force at booking confirmation governs that engagement.

B. Eligibility & credentials

  • B1. Eligibility. Participants hold the credentials, licences and permits required to participate and to accept a booking. Where a scheme applies, scheme accreditation is an additional, configurable condition.
  • B2. Maintenance. Participants maintain their credentials and notify any lapse. Loss of a licence or permit required by law for the material or the movement means ineligibility for new bookings. Loss of any other required credential may result in ineligibility, suspension, or removal from the panel.

C. Service standards & obligations

  • C1. Carrier / service provider. Accept or decline within a set time; attend within the agreed window; meet collection, loading, securing and handling standards; deliver to the nominated destination with proof of delivery; keep counterparties updated; and comply with any site-specific or material-specific requirements notified by the material owner or receiver in the booking particulars, including induction, personal protective equipment, access hours, and segregation or containment requirements.
  • C2. Subcontracting. A carrier may subcontract a booking only where the booking particulars permit it, and remains fully responsible for performance, credentials, chain-of-custody capture and these obligations as if it had performed the work itself. Any subcontractor must hold the credentials the booking requires. The carrier tells the material owner who will attend, before attendance.
  • C3. Material owner. Provide site access and readiness, accurate volume and material information, reasonable lead time, a site contact, a safe loading area and, where relevant, the equipment and personnel needed to load the materials — or, where the carrier is to supply these, notice of that in the booking particulars.
  • C4. Processor / receiver. Apply agreed acceptance criteria, confirm receipt, record quality or contamination, and handle receipt discrepancies (where a processor is a party).
  • C5. Rejected or non-conforming loads. Where a receiver rejects a load or part of a load, it records the reason and supporting evidence at the point of receipt. The participants then agree the disposition — acceptance on varied terms, return to origin, or delivery to an alternative eligible receiver. Unless the particulars say otherwise, the cost of return or redirection sits with the participant whose act or omission caused the rejection; where that is unresolved it sits with the material owner, without prejudice to its right to recover from another participant.
  • C6. Count-control & chain of custody. Follow the count and reconciliation process where the parties or a scheme require it, including origin and destination counts and anti-diversion controls.
  • C7. Service levels. Measurable standards apply: on-time attendance, completion rate, reconciliation/discrepancy rate and responsiveness.

D. Particulars (per booking)

  • D1. What a booking captures. Rate/cost basis; origin–destination/lane; service window; volume/quantity and, where used, container or unit basis; where relevant, the receiver; and the paying party.
  • D2. Draw-down. Particulars draw down on the framework like a work order, without restating the standard terms.
  • D3. Cancellation & no-show. The booking particulars set any cancellation window and the basis on which cancellation or non-attendance costs are borne. Where the particulars are silent, a cancelling participant gives as much notice as reasonably practicable and neither participant owes the other a cancellation fee — but repeated late cancellation or non-attendance is a service failure under F1.

E. Pricing & payment

  • E1. Off-platform settlement. All freight, material and processing charges are invoiced and settled directly between the participants (or a participant and its nominated funder). The platform is not payer, collector, intermediary or guarantor.
  • E2. Evidence. The platform makes available the records participants have captured through it (load references, proof of delivery, reconciled counts). The completeness of that evidence depends on participants following the platform's capture procedures; we do not warrant that records which were not captured, or were captured inaccurately, will be available. It issues no invoice for service charges.

F. Performance & remedies

  • F1. Underperformance. Service failures include no-show, lateness, mishandling, contamination of a load, and unreconciled counts. Unintended contamination is addressed through make-good and allocation of the resulting cost; deliberate contamination, dumping or diversion is a serious breach, is grounds for removal, and may be reported to the relevant authorities.
  • F2. Remedy ladder. The material owner may require make-good or re-attendance, or re-allocate to another eligible provider. The platform may issue warnings and suspend or remove a provider from the panel. These remedies are operational and are not penalties owed to the platform. They do not limit any right a participant has at law to recover loss caused by another participant's failure.

G. Compliance, liability & data

  • G1. Compliance. Participants hold required licences and permits and meet their work health and safety (WHS) — or equivalent occupational health and safety — and environmental obligations, including no dumping or diversion.
  • G2. Chain of responsibility. Where heavy-vehicle law applies to a movement, each participant complies with the duties it owes as consignor, consignee, packer, loader or operator, so far as reasonably practicable — including mass, dimension, loading, securing and fatigue requirements. No participant asks, directs or incentivises another to breach those duties. Heavy-vehicle law does not apply uniformly across Australia; participants are responsible for the requirements of each State or Territory in which a movement occurs.
  • G3. Dangerous goods. Where a material is classified as a dangerous good, the material owner declares it as such before booking, and the carrier and receiver handle, document, placard and transport it in accordance with the Australian Dangerous Goods Code and any licence conditions. A material not declared as a dangerous good may be refused at collection or on receipt, at the declaring participant's cost.
  • G4. Insurance. Participants hold the insurances required for their role and the materials they handle — at minimum public liability and, for carriers, motor vehicle and goods-in-transit cover. Required types and minimum amounts are those set in the booking particulars or the applicable scheme rules. Participants provide evidence of cover on reasonable request, and notify any lapse, cancellation or material reduction.
  • G5. Risk, title & liability. Risk, title, liability caps and indemnities are allocated between the participants in the booking particulars. Where the particulars are silent: title in the material remains with the material owner until the receiver accepts it at the destination; risk passes to the carrier on completion of loading, and to the receiver on acceptance. The platform is not a party to, or liable for, the service.
  • G6. Data & confidentiality. Participants capture chain-of-custody evidence, retain service records, and keep commercial terms confidential (participants do not see competitors' rates).

H. Term & general

  • H1. Term & termination. Engagements last as agreed; breach or credential lapse may lead to suspension; termination does not disturb bookings already formed.
  • H2. Events beyond reasonable control. Neither participant is liable for failure or delay caused by an event beyond its reasonable control, including road closure, flood, fire, extreme weather, industrial action or an act of a public authority. The affected participant notifies the other as soon as practicable, and the participants agree a revised window or cancel the booking without liability for the delay itself. Seasonal road closures are foreseeable in some regions; participants allow for them when setting service windows.
  • H3. Disputes & general. Participant-to-participant disputes are resolved between the participants. The parties are independent contractors; the platform is not an agent or principal. Each engagement is governed by the law of the State or Territory in which collection occurs, unless the booking particulars specify otherwise; where a booking has collection points in more than one State or Territory, the law of the first collection point governs. The parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that place.

Questions? Get in touch. See all our legal documents, including the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Subscription Terms and Standard Services Framework.