Shipment / Booking

In ShipperXL, Bookings and Shipments are used interchangeably. A Shipment is one or more cargos/containers, and a Booking is a reservation via ocean vessel, train, land, or air. A Shipment always has a Booking.

The number provided by the Shipline is generally the Booking Number and is the unique identifier of a Shipment.

To add a new Shipment, first search via Bookings and Shipments. If you do not find it, then create one by clicking "Add New...."

Key Elements:

1. Place of Receipt: where the containers are received

2. Pickup Equipment: where empty equipment is acquired for the Port of Loading

3. Port of Loading: where the containers are loaded onto a vessel. Includes Loading Terminal.

4. Return Equipment: where empty equipment is returned to the Port of Discharge

5. Port of Discharge: where the vessel offloads the containers. Includes Discharge Terminal.

6. Place of Delivery: where the containers are delivered (final destination)

7. Shipper: the company officially recognized as the shipper for the booking

8. Memo: this appears on various reports, some which are delivered to partners. The internal memo is intended for more sensitive notes.

Watch Shipline for changes ★

When selected, ShipperXL will check for changes to ports, vessel, dates, and containers with the Shipline. There is a nominal fee one-time fee for this service. When changes are found, the Shipment will be placed into a queue for "Remote Modifications". When you open the Shipment, you'll be shown the changes and given the opportunity to either apply them or ignore them. If you ignore them, you'll still Save the Shipment to accept that choice.

Sections:

• Fulfillment: indicates which orders are being assigned to the cargo associated with the shipment. Since shipments are created before cargo, this automatically associates the order with the cargo as the cargo records are entered. The cargo fulfill the order, but the shipment is only assigned.

• Queues: these are used to communicate status and coordinate work. You can only add or remove from queues to which you belong. Press "Promote to Next Queue" to automatically select the next queue in the workflow, if any. 

• Freight: this section is used for documentation. The freight rates component locks a rate from Carrier Contracts to this shipment. One thing to note is that this will not change if the carrier contract is amended. Affected shipments will need to be updated individually, or with the Bulk Edit Bookings tool.

• Notes: generic notes section.

• Documentation: which documents are required for this booking? this is where you take those notes. 

• Documents: add documents here. These are system-generated ones, not general attachments (which are farther down).

• Invoices & Bills: in this section you can associate the shipment with a Letter of Credit, or you can generate an Invoice.

  • Create Invoice with Item Descriptions: the invoice will show whatever item is listed on the order.

  • Create Invoice with Contents Descriptions: the invoice will show whatever item is listed in the cargo contents.

• Attachments: you can attach any file to the shipment. Note that images are publicly accessible.

 Key Reports:

1. Booking Cargo: commonly exchanged document which shows contents, weights, order, and shipment information.

2. Estimated Shrink: calculates the inventory received, processed, and shipped to produce an estimate of shrink.

3. Processor Instruction: when sending a booking to another company for processing, this is a commonly exchanged document.

4. Shipment Inventory Cost: use to notify accounting of the cost of product used in the shipment.