Working with Shipments

A shipment in CargoLint is a bundle of the documents that travel together through customs: the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, and certificate of origin. Grouping them lets CargoLint go beyond single-document extraction and verify that the documents agree with each other - the same checks a customs officer makes before releasing your cargo.

Before you start

• You have at least two documents from the same shipment (any combination of the four types)
• Documents are PDF, PNG, JPG, or TIFF files

Steps

1. Create a shipment at upload

When you upload one or more files from the Dashboard or Documents page, CargoLint asks where they belong. Files uploaded together are grouped as one shipment. Use the Group as picker to either:

• Create a new shipment - enter a reference (your booking number, file number, or any identifier you use internally), or
• Add to an existing shipment - search by reference and select it.

2. Find your shipments in the Shipment Inbox

The Shipments page lists every shipment with its current status. Use the tabs to focus on what needs attention:

• All - everything that isn’t settled
• Open - shipments still in progress
• Issues - shipments with warnings or critical findings
• Settled - finalized shipments, locked and hidden from the other tabs

Search by reference from the box on the right - suggestions appear as you type.

3. Open a shipment to see its checklist

The shipment page shows two panels: the attached Documents and the Consistency Checklist. Cross-document checks run automatically once at least two documents finish processing, and re-run whenever a document finishes processing. You can also trigger them on demand with Re-evaluate.

Each finding shows its severity (critical, warning, or note), the values observed on each document, a plain-language explanation of what it means, and links to open the contributing documents. Hovering a finding highlights the documents involved.

4. Add or replace documents

Use Add documents on the shipment page to attach more files. A shipment holds one document of each type: uploading a new version of a type replaces the old one for checks. Replaced documents stay attached (and remain billed - they were processed), but are no longer evaluated or shown in the review queue. If you add more files than the shipment has free slots, CargoLint warns you before uploading.

5. Settle the shipment

When the paperwork is final, click Mark settled. Settling:

• Finalizes the shipment and locks it against new documents
• Approves any documents still pending approval
• Keeps documents that require review in the review queue - settle doesn’t hide extraction problems

Settled shipments move to the Settled tab. If something changes, Re-open shipment unlocks it so it accepts documents again.

Tip: Upload all documents for a shipment in one go - they’re grouped automatically and the consistency checks run as soon as the second document finishes processing.

Tip: Replacing a corrected document is cheaper than fixing findings by hand: upload the new version to the same shipment and the checks re-run against it automatically.

What’s next

• Shipment Consistency Checks - What CargoLint verifies across documents and what each severity means
• Uploading Documents - Upload options and supported formats
• Reviewing Extracted Data - Fix flagged fields before settling