SHIPPING & DELIVERY
An international shipping checklist for B2B instrument orders.
The destination, packing, Incoterm and document details to settle before an international instrument shipment is released.
Confirm the destination before the freight estimate
Give the supplier the final destination country, city and postal code, the consignee type and any preferred port, airport or buyer-appointed forwarder. Freight cannot be compared accurately when one quotation ends at an export terminal and another includes movement to the buyer's city.
Identify whether the consignee needs an import permit, registration number or advance document review. These requirements can affect both dispatch timing and the documents placed with the shipment.
Read the Incoterm with its named place
An Incoterm needs a named place and version to be useful. Confirm which party books carriage, pays each stage, arranges insurance where applicable and carries risk at each point. Do not rely on informal phrases such as delivered price without the written allocation.
Separate production lead time from carrier transit time. Customs examination, destination handling and local delivery can sit outside both estimates depending on the agreed term.
Agree packing and marks
Record unit protection, inner quantities, carton limits, labels, handling marks and private-label presentation. Where several SKUs share a carton, agree how the buyer will identify and count them on arrival.
- Buyer and consignee names
- Article codes and quantities by carton
- Country-of-origin and destination markings where required
- Gross and net weight and carton dimensions
- Protection for tips, edges, joints and finished surfaces
- Any restricted packaging material for the destination
Approve the document list before dispatch
Confirm the commercial invoice, packing list and transport document, then identify any certificate of origin, declaration, legalization or buyer-specific form needed. Special documents may add cost and processing time, so request them before goods are ready.
On arrival, count packages and record visible damage with the carrier. Retain packaging, photographs and article-level details until a shortage or transit claim is resolved.