Nadia Corea, Head of Regional Pricing
Grupo Linc
Today it has been easier to find cargo agents that receive shipments anywhere in the world, all thanks to technology and the networks of agents that exist globally. A very important point to prioritize is that the freight forwarder you decide to hire is trustworthy and that it provides a good transportation service at the destination so that the end customer is satisfied.
In this blog we are going to give you five tips on how to consign your shipments so that they reach Central America in the easiest and most efficient way.
Below are the 5 steps on how to consign your shipment to Central America:
- Determine the country of destination
Central America is made up of different countries, where Grupo Linc is located in four of them: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. It is very important to know which port or airport your client’s cargo is going to arrive to avoid confusion at the time of shipment so as not to cause it to arrive at a place other than the final destination, it is for this reason that as a first step you must determine the placement country.
- Request the information of the office to consign
Customs and logistics, in general, work differently in all countries, which is why it is important to know the information that should go on the MBL (Carrier Bill of Landing) and MAWB (Mater Air Waybill). Putting a wrong address or a mail that does not exist can cause inconveniences to dispatch the cargo and deliver it to the final customer. In the following link you can find the data to consign your loads to the different countries in which Grupo Linc has a physical presence: Linc Data.
- Review and approval of documents
It is important that all the documents are reviewed by the offices that will receive the cargo so that when the information is entered, everything is complete and the process advances in the established time. It is recommended that you send the drafts or drafts to the emails of the regional to which you are going to dispatch the cargo so that they give the go-ahead.
Once the office receives the export and import documents and that they have been consigned to the final client, the client’s approval will be given to confirm that we can proceed. It is not advisable to send the cargo before having carried out these revisions because if there are changes after shipment, extra charges could be incurred by the shipping companies or airlines.
- Make changes if any:
Once the drafts or drafts have been sent to the corresponding regional, they will be told what changes must be made to continue with due process. Some frequent changes that are requested are: correctly place the name of the cargo agent company at the destination, emails and in the case of air cargo, place the correct name of the destination airport, weights and specifications of whether the cargo comes in pallets or packages. It is important to make the necessary changes so as not to have problems with customs and to avoid delays causing inconvenience to the customer.
- Send final pre-alert:
Last but not least, once the previous steps have been completed and everything is complete, a Final Pre-alert must be sent, which will indicate cargo data such as:
- PO number of the load, if any.
- Shipping company with which the container comes.
- MBL or MAWB number.
- HBL or HAWB number.
- Estimated date of departure of the cargo.
- Estimated date of arrival of the cargo.
- Contacts to whom the operation must be reported.
- Attach final documents already with the changes indicated above and commercial invoices.
All this information must go in the Final Pre-alert as it contains valuable data for operations and customer service personnel so that they can operate in the best possible way.
With these tips it will be easier to ship to Central America. Grupo Linc will always be happy to serve you in logistics with technology.
We thank you for reading this article, I hope it was interesting. If you have a moment we would like to request your help:
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