The first shipment with a new China-side partner is the one that sets the pattern, so it is worth knowing what should happen and when. This is the sequence we run for a new importer, from the day the purchase orders arrive to the day the vessel sails, with what we need from you at each stage and what you should see back.
Days one to three are onboarding. We need the purchase orders with their Incoterms, the supplier list with contacts and cities, a product master with dimensions, weights, commodity codes and any battery or dangerous-goods content, the delivery address and date, and the details of your customs broker at destination. From that we build the shipment plan: mode, port, sailing, consolidation point if there is more than one supplier, and the document checklist with a due date per item. You see the plan and the quote, with origin charges itemised, before anything is booked.
Week one is supplier introduction. We contact each factory as your nominated logistics contact, confirm the cargo-ready date against the plan, agree the packing and marking specification in writing, and set the collection window and the document deadline. Suppliers who have always used their own forwarder are told what changes and what does not: they still deliver to the port under FOB, they just deliver to us. You see a first consolidated status with each supplier's confirmed date.
Week two is booking and pre-departure data. The carrier booking is made on your account to the sailing that meets your date. The Importer Security Filing data for the United States, the advance cargo data for Canada, the entry summary data for the EU and the UK, and the packing declaration for Australia are prepared from the confirmed supplier and cargo details and sent to your broker or the carrier in time for the deadline. Certificates that the goods need, origin documents, test summaries, are chased against their due dates.
Week three is collection and export. Trucks are booked from the cut-off backwards, cargo is collected or received at the consolidation warehouse, counted against the packing lists and checked for marks and packing, the container is loaded to a plan and photographed, weighed for its verified gross mass and delivered to the terminal. The export declaration is lodged, as your agent under EXW or by the supplier under FOB and FCA, and checked against the invoice. The draft bill of lading goes to you for approval before it is issued.
Week four is departure and handover. The vessel sails, the bill of lading is issued the way your bank or broker needs it, the full document set goes to your broker with the export declaration copy, and the arrival plan is set: expected discharge, free time, delivery window. From here the weekly status continues until delivery, and any change is reported the same day it happens.
What you should expect throughout is one weekly status across every supplier and every shipment, a quote whose basis is stated, exceptions reported the same day with a next-update time, and questions asked at the stage where they are questions rather than delays. If that is what your current arrangement is missing, send us one purchase order and we will run the first 30 days on it. The reply, with the plan and the price, comes within one business day.
