A container leaves the port and becomes a phone call. Where is it, did it clear, how many free days are left, what did the weighbridge say — all of it lives in somebody's head until it turns into a demurrage bill nobody saw coming. We record it instead.
Everything is kept against the container number rather than against a journey: which vessel it came off, when it was discharged, how many free days the line allowed, what it weighed, and every leg it has travelled since. When somebody asks a question three weeks later, the answer is a row and not a recollection.
Demurrage and rent are charged per day, per container, and by the time an invoice shows up the days are already spent. Free days are recorded when the container is entered, counted down from there, and flagged while there is still time to do something about it.
Where a shipping line's free-day terms have not been given to us, the system says it does not know rather than assuming a number — a countdown built on a guess is worse than no countdown.
What the bridge printed is recorded as it was printed. Whether that is within the limit is a separate question, and one we only answer where the limits for the configuration have actually been looked up and entered. A compliance screen that reports "within limits" because nobody configured it is the most dangerous kind of green there is, so it stays blank instead.
We haul it, you receive it. The journey and its costs stay on the record either way.
Delivered direct, with the waybill, who received it, a photograph at handover, and where the vehicle actually was when it was handed over — and the photograph is checked against that position rather than simply filed.
Devanned, counted and put away, and the goods carry on through the chain. That is the next stage.
A load going to Kumasi or Takoradi is a haul with legs, and each leg has a driver, a vehicle and a handover. The run is recorded the same way as a delivery round: who had it, when, and what condition it was in when it changed hands.
What we do not do. We are not a customs broker and we do not clear your goods. We move what has been cleared, and we keep the record of what happened to it.
Next: receiving, storage and distribution →