An ocean shipment goes through six milestones: the booking, the container’s gate-in at the terminal, loading on board, issue of the B/L, the vessel’s arrival and release at destination. Each one has an expected date that comes from two dates you already know —the loading date and the ETA— and a short list of things that must be done for the next one to happen.
A shipment hardly ever fails at the milestone where you notice it, but at the one before: the container that does not get on board is usually a missed cut-off —the verified weight, the instructions or the gate-in— or a vessel with no room, and demurrage at destination, a B/L that was not ready. Below is the checklist of all six, with their dates in an example, what to ask when one slips and how to run it in a spreadsheet.
Ocean shipment checklist: the six milestones at a glance
The example: a container with a loading date of Monday 9 November and an ETA at destination of Monday 14 December. Expected dates are worked out by adding or subtracting days from those two; the offsets are a general reference, not your carrier’s deadlines, which come with the booking confirmation and are the ones that count.
| Milestone | Expected date | In the example | What must be done |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Booking | Loading − 14 days | 26 October | Vessel, space and cut-offs confirmed in writing |
| 2. Gate-in | Loading − 2 days | 7 November | Container stuffed, sealed and with its verified weight submitted |
| 3. On board | Loading date | 9 November | Container loaded on the planned vessel, not just at the terminal |
| 4. B/L | Loading + 3 days | 12 November | Draft checked, freight paid and B/L issued |
| 5. Arrival | ETA | 14 December | Arrival notice received and import clearance prepared |
| 6. Release | ETA + 5 days | 19 December | Documents surrendered, charges paid and customs release |
Who drives each milestone is decided by the Incoterm. If you buy FOB, the booking is yours, because you make the contract of carriage; gate-in and loading are the seller’s, but if they fail it is your vessel that is missed. Under FCA, the rule the ICC recommends for containers, the split is the same. A trader in the middle watches all six even without carrying them all out.
Before the vessel sails: booking, gate-in and on board
1. Booking
The booking is not done when the forwarder says “it’s been requested”, but when there is a written confirmation with the booking number, the planned vessel and sailing and the cut-offs: the deadline to send the B/L instructions, the one for the verified weight and the one for the container to enter the terminal. Those cut-offs usually fall one to three days before sailing and are the dates that really need watching at origin. What to check: confirmation with vessel and cut-offs, and the release to collect the empty container.
2. Gate-in
The container has to go in stuffed and sealed before the terminal cut-off, with its verified gross mass (VGM) submitted before the VGM cut-off. It is not an optional formality: since the amendment to the SOLAS convention, the verified weight is a condition for loading a container, and the party responsible for providing it is the shipper named on the B/L (IMO). If you import into the EU, there is a second requirement before loading: for deep-sea containerised cargo, the entry summary declaration (ENS) is lodged at least 24 hours before the container is loaded onto the vessel bringing it into the EU —with transhipment, at the transhipment port— (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, Art. 105). The carrier lodges it —and, under the ICS2 system, so does a forwarder issuing its own B/L—, but with the cargo data that you or your supplier provide. What to check: VGM sent, export declaration done and ENS data in the carrier’s hands.
3. On board
A container at the terminal is not necessarily a container on the vessel. Carriers sell more space than they have and, if there is no room or a document is missing, they leave the container for the next sailing: in the trade it has been “rolled”. You find out from the carrier’s tracking, which moves from “at terminal” to “loaded”, or because it does not. What to check: the loading event on the planned vessel on the day of sailing, not the day after. If it does not appear, the ETA you gave your customer no longer holds, and under FOB the risk in the goods has still not passed to the buyer.
The document that unlocks everything: the B/L
4. B/L
The B/L is issued after loading, once the carrier has the instructions, the VGM and the freight paid if it is prepaid. A draft comes first, and that draft is the last cheap moment to correct things: shipper, consignee, notify party, description of the goods, weights and number of originals must match the sales contract and, if you are paid by letter of credit, without contradicting anything the credit asks for. A discrepancy on the final B/L is paid for in bank fees, in an amendment the carrier charges for and in days of collection. What to check: draft checked against the contract before you approve it, and issue date recorded. If you are not paid against documents, better without paper originals: it is explained in the article on demurrage.
At destination: arrival and release
5. Arrival
The ETA moves: a transhipment, an extra call or a congested port delays it by days. What does not move is that free days start counting from discharge, unless your contract says otherwise, whether or not anyone has told you. What to check: the ETA updated every week during transit, the carrier’s arrival notice and that the customs broker already has the documents to lodge the import declaration as soon as possible.
6. Release
The container is released when four things come together: the B/L surrendered to the carrier —or the electronic release—, destination charges and freight paid, customs release and, if the goods are selected for inspection, the inspection finished. If one is missing, the container waits at the terminal and, once the free days run out, demurrage starts. What to check: which of the four is missing, not whether “everything is in hand”. The five-days-after-ETA reference is a guide: if your free days are fewer, so is your deadline.
What to check when a date slips
A milestone a few days overdue is not a problem yet; it is a question to ask today. The table says which one, to whom and what is at stake if you do not ask it.
| Milestone without a date | The first question | Ask | What is at stake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booking | Are vessel, space and cut-offs in writing? | Forwarder or carrier | Missing the sailing and the contract shipment period |
| Gate-in | Is it stuffed, sealed and with the VGM sent? | Supplier and haulier at origin | That it does not load, or the terminal weighs it and bills you |
| On board | Has it been loaded or left for the next sailing? | Carrier or forwarder | A new ETA you have to explain to your customer |
| B/L | Is the draft approved and the freight paid? | Forwarder | Late documents and late payment if paid against documents |
| Arrival | Has the ETA changed or was there a transhipment? | Carrier | Free days running with nobody ready |
| Release | What is missing: documents, payment, customs or inspection? | Customs broker | Demurrage from the first day after the free days |
How to run it in a spreadsheet
You do not need a system to start. A sheet with one row per container —not per deal: a five-container shipment can have one rolled— and these columns is enough:
- Loading date and ETA, the two you keep up to date.
- One expected column per milestone, with a formula: loading − 14, loading − 2, loading, loading + 3, ETA and ETA + 5. If the carrier gives you the cut-offs, use the terminal one instead of “loading − 2” and add one column for the VGM cut-off and another for the instructions.
- One actual column per milestone, filled in on the day it happens, with the date and not with an “ok”.
- A delay column: today minus the expected date of the first milestone without an actual date, formatted red from the fourth day.
- A fixed review twice a week, container by container, starting with the late ones.
The sheet works as long as one person reviews it with discipline. It stops working when there are many containers in transit at once, several people recording dates and nobody looking at the delay column on the day it matters.
What Granel does with this, and what it does not
In Granel each container on a deal goes through these six milestones, with the expected date worked out from the deal’s loading date and ETA using the same offsets as the table. A milestone shows as “due now” from its expected date and as “overdue” once more than three days have passed without an actual date. On the Growth and Enterprise plans, and during the trial, a daily automatic check looks for late containers and alerts the owners and admins in Granel’s notifications: one notice per deal, with the worst delay, so a twenty-container shipment does not produce twenty notices, and without repeating it for three days. It also rejects dates out of order, such as a release earlier than the arrival.
What Granel does not do is connect to carriers: you or your team enter the actual dates, and it does not know a container has been rolled until someone records it. Nor does it know your cut-offs or your free days, or file the VGM or the ENS. What changes is that the six milestones of each container are on the deal page, with what is due and what is late in plain sight.
Frequently asked questions
What are the milestones of an ocean shipment?
Booking, the container’s gate-in at the terminal, loading on board, issue of the B/L, the vessel’s arrival at destination and release of the container. The first four depend on the loading date; the last two, on the ETA.
What is the VGM and who sends it?
It is the verified gross mass of the packed container. The SOLAS convention requires it as a condition for loading, and the shipper named on the B/L submits it to the carrier and the terminal before the cut-off the carrier sets.
What does it mean when a container is rolled?
That it did not get on the planned vessel and the carrier has moved it to the next sailing, for lack of space or because something was missing, such as the VGM or a document. The ETA changes, and it pays to know the same day.
What is needed to release a container at destination?
The B/L surrendered to the carrier or the electronic release, destination charges and freight paid, customs release and, if the goods are selected for inspection, the inspection finished. While one is missing, the free days keep running.