Documentation
Shipping Instruction (SI)
The formal set of details a shipper sends the carrier or forwarder to have the bill of lading drawn up, covering parties, cargo description, marks, weights, and freight terms.
In depth
The shipping instruction is where bill of lading errors are born. Whatever the shipper submits is what the carrier prints, so an incorrect consignee, a vague cargo description, or a wrong weight propagates into the transport document and, from there, into the customs declaration. Carriers set an SI cut-off ahead of the vessel, usually alongside the VGM cut-off, and missing it can mean the container is rolled to the next sailing. Corrections after the bill of lading is issued attract amendment fees and, once the document has been released, can be genuinely difficult to make.
Key points
- Shipper's instructions for how to draw up the bill of lading
- Subject to a cut-off, usually alongside the VGM deadline
- Errors flow straight through to the transport and customs documents
- Post-issue amendments cost money and are sometimes impossible