There are several key freight documents involved in a shipment and some of the most important ones are:

• Commercial invoice
• Packing list
• Certificate of origin
• Freight invoice
• Booking note
• Forwarders cargo receipt
• Bill of lading
• Manifest
• Hazardous declaration

LCL and FCL service types.

• There are several container service types. These are usually represented in documents as either FCL/FCL, LCL/LCL or other variations of the same.
• FCL is the abbreviation for Full Container Load. FCL container is the most common container service type used in global shipping transport today.
• When we say container service type, it is meant in relation to the shipping line. Therefore, as far as they are concerned when someone ships an FCL container, it has cargo belonging to one shipper and one consignee.
• While a container may be an FCL container for the shipping line, for a freight forwarder, NVOCC, LCL operator, groupage operator or cargo consolidator, the same FCL container could be an LCL container.
• For example, say there are three customers who are relocating from Cincinnati to Shanghai. But these three customers may not have enough cargo to fill an FCL container by themselves and have approached a cargo consolidator.
• This cargo consolidator could accept the cargo belonging to these three customers and book it to them as an LCL cargo and issue them with individual House Bills of Lading.
• The cargo consolidator could then book these three cargoes as an FCL cargo with a shipping line that will move this cargo from Cincinnati to Shanghai. The cargo consolidator will then become a shipper to the shipping line and collect a Master Bill of Lading in his name.
• These are some of the ways how an FCL container may be operated.

BILL of landing :

A bill of lading is a trade document issued by a shipping line or OTI to the customer.

The bill of lading serves as Evidence of Contract of Carriage, Receipt of Goods, Document of Title to the Goods.

Customs clearance :

If a customs bond or duty payment is required to clear cargo with customs, the customer also needs a customs broker to do the clearance process with customs.

The preparation and filing of the documents with customs and the process require special skills and knowledge, which only a customs broker will have. A customs clearance fee is a charge levied by the customs broker to handle the customs clearance.

Customs duty :

Customs duty is a charge levied by a country's customs and excise department on any goods that are imported or, in some cases, exported.

Customs duty is generally a gazetted tariff set based on the HS Code (Harmonised System Code), which covers all known goods that are allowed to be imported and exported.

Marine insurance :

Any cargo movement from one location to another involves some risk, be it the risk of damage, pilferage, theft of entire packages, or non-delivery of the whole shipment.

Customers are required to protect themselves by taking proper cargo and marine insurance covers. for general cargo, three different levels of insurance can be chosen C, B & A Clauses.

Marine insurers charge cargo insurance premiums based on the type of coverage by the customer. Depending on the Incoterms used, the seller or buyer may bear the insurance cost.

CARGO delivery :

As the name suggests, a delivery fee is a fee charged before the cargo is delivered to the customer.

The shipping line and/or the port can charge a delivery fee. The shipping line will charge it based on the services they need to provide before the delivery is done and cargo is released, such as the documentation required for the release, the updates to be done in the port, and the customs system for the release.

The port may charge it based on the actual delivery of the cargo.