Some Asked Questions about Shipping Transportation

In regard to the export of the goods in global trade, transportation is undoubtedly a crucial aspect.

However, entering the international market and conducting effective transportation and transactions within it requires a thorough understanding and compliance with a series of regulations and standards of that country.

Today I am sharing with some frequently asked questions for our clients and us between the business:

Q: What are the most commonly international trade terms at present?

A: EXW(Ex works), FOB(Free On Board), CIF(Cost, Insurance and Freight), CFR(Cost and Freight), FCA(Free Carrier), DDP(Delivered Duty Paid), DAP(Delivered at Place), DDU(Delivered duty unpaid).

Q: What shipping documents do the customs need to clear the shipment in Australia?

A: Commercial Invoice / Packing List / Packing Declaration / Telex Bill of Loading / COO Certificate.

Q: You’ve not received the release notice from us, why have you booked the vessel with the forwarder already?  

A: Per the shipping forwarder’s regulation, we have to send booking 1 week before shipment then the forwarder will hold CBM for us. We cannot only send booking on closing day, the vessel company will reject the booking in case. Thus we cannot send the booking until receiving the approved shipment comments or on closing day. Also, sending booking is not related to ship the bulk without your shipment approval.

Q: We will need your goods to share a container with another goods from our other factory for this shipment. So can you please confirm how much space our replenishment order will take up in the container? We also have a replenishment order coming from our this factory which we would like to combine in to one container. They have advised that their stock will take up the below amount of space so we could use a 40’HQ container? The total CBM is 9 cubes. Please confirm that this will be ok?

A: For this shipment, 1 x 40'HQ can not take all of these cartons after wen calculated, so we will book 1 x 40'HQ and 5 cbm for LCL and try to consolidate them into the same vessel.

Q: Why did you load some of cartons in mixed styles?

A: Since the carton size of each style is different, sometimes to save space and load more cartons, a few cartons will be loaded in mixed manner.

Q: The client need to receive a small goods first, how could we arrange to book the shipment?

A: We can ship directly as a FCL container then we will need to part ship a small percentage as air freight to meet client timings. The exact amount will be better known once we have the proposed sailing for the FCL based on all of these products being completed.

Q: Please could you send us the screenshots with trade marks indicated? We have consulted some several shipping forwarders here and the customs will quickly check our goods according to the completed screenshots and then release the goods. If the full screenshot is not available, the progress will be affected.

A: According to the client, normally they won't provide the screenshot due to possibility of re-use or transfer to other party for copy products in the worst case. On the other hand, if authorized product was suspended by China customs, they will issue the manufacturing license agreement.

Q: What is the authorization procedure if our products with the famous brand registered on custom systems ?

A: If your client has already finished the authorization by the brand owner agent in China Customs Website, please ask them to capture a screenshot for an image of the Chinese Customs record showing that we are added into the white list. Our warehouse will release the cargo to shipping company once receipt of this image.

Q: Did you get the shipment released from the Customs successfully?

A: Yes, the customs clearance has been completed. I think the customs found the authorization information in their system, so the customs clearance and release will be quicker.

Q: Can you quote the shipping cost by sea freight before order confirmation?

A: The shipping cost is based on the current sea freight rate, if it's lowered down or increased up, we will adjust them accordingly. You can also check with forwarder/shipping line for the updated shipping cost.

Q: Is it possible to mark the low value in the commercial invoice during the customs clearance?

A: As this is only a small quantity, we will ship them to you by normal courier in a low invoice value. Most of the time the customs office won't check the normal parcel, it is easy to have them delivered successfully. However, for large cargo, it has to be imported in official documents and procedures.