Booking Confirmation

A booking confirmation is the reply to a booking request: the carrier, or the NVOCC you booked with, accepts the shipment and confirms the space. Maersk describes its own as having "the load itinerary and the location of the empty depot from where the container will be released, along with the date from which the container will be available at the depot." The layout differs from carrier to carrier, but the core content is much the same.

What a booking confirmation usually shows

• Booking number: the reference the terminal, trucker and carrier use until the bill of lading exists
• Parties and cargo: shipper, consignee, commodity, container type and cargo weight, as given in the booking request
• Routing: place of receipt, port of loading, port of discharge and place of delivery, with the vessel, voyage and estimated departure and arrival dates
• Cut-offs: the container gate-in, shipping instructions and VGM deadlines for that sailing (see cargo cut-off)
• Empty release: for a full container load, the empty container depot and the release date. Some carriers and ports issue a separate release order or pickup number for the trucker instead

What to check when it arrives

• Ports, place of delivery and service match what you agreed with the buyer or seller, including the Incoterms rule
• Container size and type, and the commodity, especially if the cargo is hazardous or needs a reefer
• The cut-offs against your cargo-ready date, so the container, documents and weight can reach the carrier in time
• For US imports, the planned vessel: the ISF is due 24 hours before the cargo is loaded on it at the foreign port

Changes after the confirmation is issued depend on the carrier accepting them and on space. Maersk's terms, for example, make changes subject to the request being made before departure, available space and its approval, and possibly an amendment fee, and the same terms refer to the "latest Booking Confirmation issued", so an approved change comes with an updated confirmation.

Booking confirmation vs bill of lading

The booking confirmation comes first and only reserves space. The bill of lading follows once the carrier has the goods: under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, after receiving the goods the carrier issues a bill of lading on the shipper's demand, and after loading it can be a "shipped" bill. The bill of lading is the receipt for the cargo and evidence of the contract of carriage and, when negotiable, controls who can collect the goods. A booking confirmation does neither.

Carrier booking vs NVOCC booking

An NVOCC does not operate the vessel; it is a shipper in its relationship with the ocean carrier (19 CFR 4.7(b)(3)(ii)). When you book with an NVOCC, it books space with the ocean carrier under its own contract and sends you its own booking confirmation. Later the carrier issues a master bill to the NVOCC and the NVOCC issues you a house bill. On an LCL booking, the confirmation points to the consolidator's container freight station and its receiving cut-off instead of an empty container.

Airlift is an FMC-licensed NVOCC and books FCL and LCL space from India, China and Southeast Asia to the US. See FCL ocean freight and LCL ocean freight.