Freight Forwarding, Container Shipping and Intermodal Transport: Rates, Bills of Lading and Routing – London, 10–14 May 2027

Programme overview

Introduction:

Freight forwarding margins and delivery promises break down when a container is booked on the wrong service, a quote omits surcharges or detention, the house bill of lading does not match the carrier's master bill, or a sea-rail-road leg adds days nobody priced. This Core Concept course trains forwarding, shipper logistics and liner staff to handle container shipping and intermodal transport from trade term and booking through documents, equipment, routing, insurance and claims. Working on real shipment files, participants build a Door-to-Door Multimodal Quotation and Routing Plan for a lane they actually move.

Course Objectives:

• Define the forwarder's responsibilities and liability when acting as agent or as principal and allocate tasks, costs and risk under the current Incoterms rules
• Book FCL and LCL shipments on suitable liner services and plan consolidation, cut-offs and carrier allocation across alliance networks
• Build an ocean freight quotation from base rate, surcharges, local charges, demurrage and detention exposure and forwarder margin
• Prepare and check ocean bills of lading, house bills of lading and sea waybills and the customs documents that travel with a container at overview
• Compare sea, rail and road combinations for a door-to-door move on transit time, total cost, equipment availability and risk
• Handle cargo insurance cover and loss or damage claims and track forwarder performance with KPIs and pricing reviews

Target Audience:

• Forwarding operations functions that book containers, coordinate carriers and issue house documents
• Shipper and consignee logistics functions that choose trade terms, carriers and routings for export and import flows
• Liner and NVOCC customer service and documentation functions handling bookings, bills and equipment release
• Pricing and sales support functions that prepare ocean and multimodal freight quotations
• Import and export coordination functions that manage customs paperwork, free time and container returns
• Claims and cargo insurance functions that document loss, damage and delay on containerised shipments

Course Outline:

Day 1: The Forwarder's Role, Liability and Trade Terms

• Forwarder, NVOCC, Carrier and Shipper Roles Mapped on a Door-to-Door Container Move
• Agent Versus Principal Liability and the FIATA Model Rules at Overview
• Current Incoterms Rules: Delivery Point, Risk Transfer and Cost Split per Term
• Choosing Container-Friendly Trade Terms Instead of Port-Based Terms for Box Cargo
• Current-State Review of an Organisation's Ocean Lanes, Forwarder Panel and Service Failures

Day 2: Liner Services, Booking and Container Equipment

• Liner Service Design: Port Rotations, Transhipment Hubs and Vessel Sharing Alliances
• FCL Booking Workflow: Space Request, Booking Confirmation, VGM and Documentation Cut-Offs
• LCL Consolidation: CFS Receiving, Co-Loading and Groupage Box Planning
• Container Types and Selection: Dry, High Cube, Reefer, Open Top, Flat Rack and Tank Units
• Equipment Control: Empty Pick-Up, Positioning Imbalances and Container Tracking Events

Day 3: Freight Rate Build-Up and Shipping Documents

• Ocean Freight Rate Structure: Base Rate, Bunker and Currency Adjustment and Peak Season Surcharges
• Origin and Destination Local Charges: Terminal Handling, Documentation and Delivery Order Fees
• Demurrage and Detention Free Time Calculation and Combined Free Time Negotiation
• Ocean Bill of Lading Functions: Receipt, Contract Evidence and Document of Title
• Master Versus House Bill of Lading, Sea Waybill, Telex Release and Electronic Bills of Lading

Day 4: Intermodal Routing, Customs Interface, Insurance and Claims

• Sea-Rail-Road Routing Options and Land Bridge Alternatives for Inland Origins and Destinations
• Transit Time Versus Cost Trade-Off Matrix with Buffer Days and Schedule Reliability
• Customs Documentation at Overview: Commercial Invoice, Packing List, HS Code and Export Declaration
• Cargo Insurance Cover: Institute Cargo Clauses at Overview, Insured Value and Certificate Issue
• Loss, Damage and Delay Claims: Notice Periods, Survey Reports and Recovery from Carriers

Day 5: Forwarder Pricing, KPIs and the Door-to-Door Plan

• Forwarder Pricing Model: Buy Rate, Sell Rate, Gross Profit per TEU and Quotation Validity
• Forwarder KPI Scorecard: Booking Acceptance, On-Time Departure, Document Accuracy and Invoice Disputes
• Case Study: Diagnosing a Detention Overrun and Rolled Booking from the Shipment File
• Case Study: Consolidating Multi-Supplier LCL Cargo into an FCL Buyer's Consolidation Programme
• Door-to-Door Multimodal Quotation and Routing Plan Build and Peer Review

Skills You Will Gain:

• Trade Term Selection
• FCL and LCL Booking
• Ocean Freight Quotation
• Demurrage and Detention Control
• Bill of Lading Checking
• Multimodal Route Planning
• Cargo Claims Handling
• Forwarder Performance Measurement

Why Attend This Course:

• Return with a Door-to-Door Multimodal Quotation and Routing Plan for a lane your organisation moves
• Stop margin leakage from quotes that miss local charges, surcharges or detention days
• Cut release delays caused by mismatched house and master bills or late documentation
• Compare container shipping practice with forwarders, shippers and liner staff from several sectors

Conclusion:

A container moves door to door on time and at the quoted cost only when the trade term, booking, equipment, rate, bill of lading, routing and insurance decisions line up. The course moves from the forwarder's role, liability and trade terms, through liner services, booking, consolidation and container equipment, to rate build-up, demurrage and detention and shipping documents, then to sea-rail-road routing, customs paperwork, insurance and claims. The final day applies pricing, KPIs and shipment case files to build the Door-to-Door Multimodal Quotation and Routing Plan.