Shipping documents for freight forwarders
Prepare shipper's letters of instruction, carrier instructions and transport documents. Share the generators with clients or fill in the shipment details yourself.
Shipper's Letter of Instruction
Fill in routing, goods and handling instructions for your client's shipment.
| Item # | Description | HS Code | Qty | Unit | Pkgs | Pkg Type | Gross Wt (KG) | Vol (CBM) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The undersigned authorises to act as forwarding agent for export control and customs purposes, to prepare and file any export declaration required, and to sign any document relating to this consignment on our behalf. We certify that the particulars given above are true and complete.
What you issue
The exporter's instructions to their freight forwarder, including the authority to act as agent for customs purposes.
Books a consignment with a freight forwarder: collection details, routing, cargo particulars and who pays which charges.
Tells the carrier exactly how the bill of lading should read: parties, routing, cargo description and freight terms.
The carrier's receipt for the goods, evidence of the contract of carriage, and a document of title the consignee must surrender to collect the cargo.
The sender's copy of the international road consignment note, retained as proof of what was handed to the carrier.
The SOLAS VGM certificate. No container may be loaded to a vessel without a signed verified gross mass from the shipper.
What goes wrong
Most errors start in the instruction
You copy what the shipper gives you. If the HS code is wrong, the declaration is wrong. If the weight is understated, the container can be refused under the VGM rules. The penalty generally falls on the exporter, not on you. But that only holds if what you filed matches what they instructed. A signed instruction proves that. An email thread often does not.
Give clients a form instead of a phone call
Information is usually missing because nobody asked for it on a form. A shipper's letter of instruction lists every field you need: routing, Incoterm, HS code, gross and net weights, who pays the freight, which type of bill of lading and to whose order. Send clients the generator and let them fill it in.
One consignment, one set of numbers
At destination, the instruction, the transport document and the customs entry are checked against each other. If descriptions, quantities or weights differ between them, the shipment is often held. Fixing that after filing costs far more than fixing it before. Copy the relevant details into each document and check them before downloading.
Filling them in
Field-by-field walkthroughs of the documents above.
Questions
+Can I send the shipper's letter of instruction generator to my clients?
Yes. That is what it is for. It is a public page with no login, so a client can fill it in and send you the PDF. Information is usually missing because nobody asked for it on a form.
+Who is liable if the shipper gives me the wrong weight?
The shipper named on the bill of lading is responsible for the VGM, so an understated weight is generally their problem rather than yours. That only holds if what you filed matches what they instructed. A signed instruction proves it. An email thread often does not.
+Do I issue the bill of lading, or does the carrier?
The carrier or its agent issues it, based on your shipping instructions. If you act as an NVOCC rather than as an agent, you issue a house bill in your own name. That is a different legal position, and it has its own page here.
+What is the difference between a forwarding instruction and a shipping instruction?
A forwarding instruction books the job with you and covers the whole movement. A shipping instruction is a narrower document. It tells the carrier how the bill of lading should read. The second is usually written from the first, so anything unclear in one shows up in the other.
Who uses this
Exporters
Make the invoice, packing list and certificate of origin for a shipment in one go, without typing the consignee's address four times.
Freight forwarders
Turn a client's spreadsheet into a clean set of documents that a customs broker will accept.
Customs brokers
Rebuild a missing or unusable document from the details you already have.