The steps of transporting goods by various methods must be followed in order, so that the goods are transferred from the origin to the final destination without delay. Goods are transported by sea, air and land methods, and choosing the best method is possible after examining various factors such as the distance between the origin and destination, the type, volume and weight of the goods, etc.

If you intend to use transportation services, but you do not know what steps to go through, we suggest you stay with us until the end. In this article, we intend to introduce 6 stages of international transportation.

6 golden steps of goods transportation

The steps of transporting goods by any of the sea, air and land methods that take place include the following 6 steps:

• Delivery of cargo to the carrier
• Customs clearance of origin
• Loading
• Shipping
• Customs clearance of the destination
• Cargo delivery at destination customs

Delivery of cargo to the carrier

The process of transporting goods begins with the delivery of the cargo to the carrier. In fact, the dispatcher must first hand over the shipment to the carrier.

Customs clearance of origin

Among other main stages of transportation, we can mention the clearance of the goods from the customs of origin. As you know, all exported goods must be sent to the customs of the country of origin so that legal procedures and investigations are carried out by the relevant authorities. Then, if there is no problem, the goods can be cleared from customs; for this purpose, you must prepare your request and submit it to the customs with the required documents.

The customs clearance process must be completed before the goods move.

Loading

In the third stage of the transportation of goods, loading must be done. The goods must be checked by the relevant authorities from the time they arrive at the warehouse until they are loaded, and then they should be loaded into the intended means of transportation.

Shipping

After loading the goods, the carrier is obliged to deliver the cargo to the receiver within a predetermined time period. For this purpose, a contract is drawn up between the transporter and the transport company and obligates the parties to fulfill their obligations.

Customs clearance of the destination

Another stage of transportation is dedicated to the customs clearance of the destination. After transporting the goods to the destination country, the goods are handed over to the customs of the destination country. The process of customs clearance of the destination is done just like the customs clearance of the origin. For this purpose, the required documents must be submitted and the customs officer must carefully examine the imported goods and issue the clearance permit if there are no problems.

Delivery of the cargo at the destination

After the clearance of the goods in the last stage of transportation the goods must be transferred to the place specified in the contract between the buyer and the seller. After that, the imported cargo should be stored in the warehouse.

Documents required to transport goods

Now that you are familiar with the steps of transporting goods, it is good to know the documents required for international transportation of goods.

It should be noted that some documents are required to transport all kinds of goods by sea, air and land. These documents are called common. Other types of documents are known as special documents and are required for some goods.

Common shipping documents are:

• Bill of lading

A bill of lading is a transferable document of ownership. A bill of lading is a contract issued by shipping companies for the purpose of transporting and loading goods to transfer ownership of the goods from the seller to the company.

• Proforma and invoice

Proforma is a document containing information about the goods written by the seller and sent to the buyer. After the approval of the proforma by the buyer and the country of destination, the goods will be allowed to enter.

• Certificate of origin

The certificate of origin is another document required for different stages of transportation, which is issued by the manufacturer or his representative. The information of the certificate of origin includes the specifications of the product as well as the name of the country producing the product.

• Packing list

The packing list also contains information about the product, buyer, seller, loading and unloading place, etc. and will be checked in almost all stages of transportation.

• Certificate of inspection

The inspection certificate is issued at the stage of delivering the cargo to the carrier and after inspecting the goods in terms of quality and quantity, packaging, means of transport, etc.

• Shipping insurance

It is mandatory to obtain cargo transportation insurance in order to compensate for damages incurred during the transportation route.