Reference
Sailing schedules and cut-offs
Rates and schedules to any port, container tracking, and the deadlines that decide whether your box makes the sailing you booked.
Rates and schedules to any port
Email the commodity, the origin and the destination to our export or import desk. We reply with rates and sailing options within 24 to 48 hours, to any port, door to door through our network of international agents.
The tools below are the ones we check a berth and track a container with.
The deadlines inside a booking
Five dates sit between a booking and a sailing. Miss one and the box rolls to the next vessel.
| Deadline | What it is | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Earliest return date | The first day the terminal accepts your loaded container for that vessel. Arrive before it and the gate turns the truck around. | Carrier, published on the port berth schedule |
| Documentation cut-off | Your shipping instructions, in time for the line to draft the bill of lading and file its manifest data. | Carrier |
| VGM cut-off | The verified gross mass. A packed container without one stays on the ground. See verified gross mass. | Carrier, under SOLAS |
| Cargo cut-off | The last gate move the terminal takes for the sailing. | Terminal and carrier |
| Hazardous approval | The dangerous goods declaration, which the line approves before it accepts the booking. This one runs earliest of the five. | Carrier |
Where to look it up
The berth schedule at our home port, and tracking for any line.
- Norfolk berth schedule →
The Port of Virginia's live vessel schedule: ETA, ETD, berth and earliest return date for the lines calling our home port. Open to anyone, no account.
- Container tracking, any line →
Enter a container number and it hands off to the carrier's own tracking. Or send it to us and we will chase it.
Request rates and schedules
Send the commodity, the origin and the destination. We reply with rates and sailing options within 24 to 48 hours, to any port.
The details we need to quote a sailing
- Commodity and HS code
- The goods, with the classification if you have it. It drives licence screening at origin and duty at the far end.
- Weight and dimensions
- Gross weight and the dimensions of each piece, palletised or loose.
- Origin and destination
- Door address or port at both ends, so we can price the inland legs.
- Target sailing
- The week you want to be on the water, or the date the goods have to land.
- Incoterm
- The point your responsibility ends and the buyer's begins. If that is unsettled, see Incoterms 2020.
Related
Next step
Tell us what you are moving.
Send the commodity, the weight and dimensions, the origin and destination, and your target sailing. That gives us enough for a firm quote.