Have you ever thought what happens to your container after picking up by the forwarding agency? No? Well your container or your product is about to start an interesting journey! Learn about one of the most important processes in the container shipping industry.
Your container is picked up by your forwarding agency, then it’s loaded to the container vessel, then it’s delivered to the destination port.  Next, it’s unloaded and picked up by you or your forwarding agency and delivered to the consignee.
Let’s assume that you are a company in Turkey and you are selling items to the partner in the USA. First of all, you have basically two options: ship by air or by vessel. If it’s a lot, then a container it is. It starts with the custom clearance and with your forwarding agency picking up the container. The container will be loaded and sealed with a seal number so that no one opens the container until it has reached its final destination . After everything is ready, the container will be loaded by the port crane operator onto the container vessel. Once the vessel is fully loaded, the journey can begin.
The carrier companies usually have their own routes and hubs for transferring the container. If your container reaches one of the transshipment ports, it means that it will be unloaded from the vessel and stowed again in the port waiting area. Â It will wait for the next vessel, which will ship your container to the destination port. During that procedure your container is on rest, which means there is a waiting or transferring (transshipment) time to the next vessel.
Unfortunately these steps costs time.  If the container booked on a direct route, then there will be no transferring times and you are not going to lose time. That also means that your container will reach his destination much faster.
Once arriving at the destination port, the container crane port operator will unload your container from the vessel.  The stuffing forklift will bring it to the secured area, where the custom clearance procedure will happen. If there is an exam or hold by the custom, then the seal number will be unsealed for the first time, the container will be opened and the products will be checked according to the documentation. If there should be no exam or hold, your container will be delivered to its final destination point, (to the so called Consignee) where the sealed container will be unsealed and the container will be opened for its first time.
Here are some tips for shipping your containers
Pack your cargo properly and secure them inside the container for the shipment.  Sea conditions can be very tough and severe. You don’t want your items to be damaged!  Also, the most important thing: don’t forget the insurance!!! Make an insurance policy for your shipment products, just in case something goes wrong.
