Plan shipping alongside development and production rather than treating it as the final administrative task. For a programme moving through Chattogram, the booking, cargo readiness, documents and buyer's delivery responsibilities need to align before the shipment is handed over.
Agree the delivery basis
State the Incoterm, its version and the named place in the quotation and purchase order. FOB, CIF and DDP allocate responsibilities differently. They should not be compared as if each price includes the same freight, insurance, import formalities and destination delivery.
Identify who appoints the forwarder, who provides booking instructions and who acts as importer of record. Confirm the operational and commercial details with the buyer's logistics team and appointed advisers before relying on a landed-cost estimate.
Work backwards from the required delivery
Separate production completion, inspection, packing, cargo handover, carrier cut-offs, transit and destination clearance. A desired arrival date is not a production finish date. Use current carrier or forwarder information rather than a fixed transit promise copied from a previous order.
Keep a record of the assumptions behind the schedule. Capacity, routing, documentation and inspection readiness can change. Define who reports a change and when a revised shipping plan needs the buyer's approval.
Align the documents with the goods
Prepare a programme-specific document checklist with the buyer and logistics provider. It commonly involves the commercial invoice, packing information and transport documents, with origin or other evidence where required. The description, quantities, marks and party details should agree across the final approved records.
Check draft documents early enough to correct discrepancies. Confirm any buyer-specific requirements, payment-document conditions and instructions for distributing originals or electronic records. Keep the final document set traceable to the shipped order.
Resolve exceptions before cargo handover
- Is the shipment complete, and how are any short quantities handled?
- Are inspection and packing approvals closed?
- Does the booking match the final cargo and delivery instructions?
- Who authorises a routing, cost or schedule change?
Our shipping and logistics service supports programme coordination, and Merchandising connects approvals with the order timeline. Include your destination, quantities and preferred delivery basis in the quote request.
Sources and further reading
Use the International Chamber of Commerce's Incoterms resources for the rules framework and Bangladesh Customs for official customs information. Shipment-specific routing and timing should come from the appointed carrier or forwarder.