Tracking import shipments from Japan: vessel, port, estimated and actual arrival
Sending a purchase order to a supplier in Japan does not tell you where the goods are. Between the order and the warehouse there is a vessel, a port, an estimated arrival date, the real arrival date and customs. When all of that lives in a separate spreadsheet, sales staff often learn about a delay only after the customer asks.
M&C ERP keeps this part in a document of its own: the import shipment (輸入船積).
What an import shipment is
An import shipment belongs to one purchase order: it has a purchase order field (発注) that points back to that order. On the shipment you record the transport mode, the port or airport, the B/L or AWB number, the booking number, the estimated time of arrival (ETA) and the actual time of arrival (ATA).
From the purchase order you can follow through to the customer’s sales order the shipment serves, so when something goes wrong with a shipment you know at once which customer is affected.
Shipment status
A shipment’s status follows what is actually happening:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 下書き (draft) | being prepared, not confirmed |
| ブッキング済 | booked, not yet arrived |
| 到着済 | actual arrival (ATA) recorded |
| 通関中 | in customs clearance |
| 通関済 | cleared |
| 入庫済 | received into the warehouse |
Recording the ATA moves the shipment to 到着済 and shows the button for creating the customs declaration (輸入申告を作成). The declaration and the warehouse receipt both point back to the shipment, so the whole chain can be seen from it.
When goods arrive late
Two things help you not miss a late shipment:
- A reason is required. If the ATA is more than 3 days after the ETA, a delay reason (遅延理由) must be entered. The reason can be edited even after the shipment has been submitted, because the cause of a delay is often known only later.
- Filtering overdue shipments. In the shipment list, filter on status ブッキング済 and an ETA before today: these are the shipments past their estimated date with no arrival recorded.
From a late shipment, open the purchase order and then the related sales order to warn the customer in advance.
Air freight
Not every shipment goes by sea. For an air shipment the transport mode is air (航空), the port is an airport, the transport document is an AWB, and no container details are needed. The shipment goes through the same statuses as a sea shipment.
One purchase order, several shipments
A supplier may ship one purchase order in several lots. Each lot is its own shipment with its own ETA, ATA and status. The purchase order shows a received percentage (受入率) for how much has arrived. On the demo site, for example, an order for 10 units has a first shipment of 6 already received and a second shipment of 4 still booked.
What to check in the demo
- Open a draft shipment, submit it, then record the ATA; check that the status changes and the button for the customs declaration appears.
- Enter an ATA several days later than the ETA and see that the system asks for a delay reason.
- Filter the shipment list by status and ETA to find overdue shipments.
- From a shipment, follow through to the related purchase order and sales order.