Coreline International — International sea | corelineinternational.com
What happens between asking for a quote and collecting the cargo: booking, weight declaration, classification, documents and realistic transit days per lane.
A booking starts with two numbers — the cubic metres and the weight of the cargo — plus the Incoterm agreed in the sale contract. Incoterms 2020 offers 11 rules: seven valid for any mode (EXW, FCA, CPT, CIP, DAP, DPU, DDP) and four reserved for sea and inland waterway (FAS, FOB, CFR, CIF). The rule chosen decides who books the ocean leg and where risk passes.
Before the container gates in, the shipper must file a Verified Gross Mass. SOLAS has required a VGM for every packed box since 1 July 2016, declared either by weighing the whole container or by summing cargo, packaging and the box's tare. Terminals apply it literally: no VGM, no load.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Customs classification runs in parallel. HS codes are six digits worldwide, extended to eight in the EU's Combined Nomenclature and ten in the US HTS. The first six digits match in every territory, so a supplier's code is a starting point — the national digits decide duties and must be checked by the importer.
Time is the last variable. Ocean transit runs about 14-20 days from Asia to the US West Coast, 30-40 days from Asia to North Europe and 10-16 days across the North Atlantic. Port handling and customs typically add 3-7 days at each end, so door-to-door is the sailing time plus roughly one to two weeks.
The common failures are predictable: a missing VGM stops loading, an HS code that does not match the goods invites a customs hold, a missed documentation cut-off rolls the box to the next vessel, and a gross weight over 30,480 kg means repacking. Each is avoidable at the paperwork stage, days before the ship arrives.
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