Check Your Shipping Documents Carefully Before Submitting

One of the biggest mistakes people in the shipping industry make is that they trust the documents that have been written up by other individuals. They receive their bill of lading or even their commercial invoices and they do not look at them until they are about to arrive. The problem is that people make mistakes when they are inputting information into their computers. Even the very best data entry clerk will hit the wrong key at some point and wind up costing a company a lot of money to get their shipping container back on the right track to its destination. That is why checking and double-checking your shipping documents can so crucial in this process.

When your shipping documents arrive, it is important to take 5 minutes and look through them. Check the origin and destination as well as the ETA which can sometimes change without your realizing. Sometimes containers get bumped and freight forwarders do not always pass along that the ETA has changed until the vessel is closer to arrival. Also if you have a destination issue, the sooner you catch it the better. A lot of the missed destinations are because of a type-o on the shipping documents. Your container can wind up in an incorrect stack, but if caught in time it would not be on the ship in the wrong slot. There is a lot that you can do if you catch any mistakes right away. Every opportunity you get to check for possible errors should be examined.This can save both time and money in the long run. It may even save your job.