Your First Import to Uzbekistan: Planning the Receiving Day

A first import teaches lessons that the second one only confirms. The container arrives on a day you did not fully expect, the driver wants a signature within minutes, nobody is sure who holds the papers, and the goods have nowhere to stand. None of this is unusual. It is what happens when the receiving day is left to improvisation, and a simple plan made a week ahead removes most of it.

Settle the paperwork before the shipment sails

Ask the supplier for the draft invoice and packing list as early as you can, and read them before the goods leave. A mistake in a name, a quantity or a description is far easier to correct while the cargo is still at the supplier's end. Then collect in one folder:

• the contract or purchase order and the invoice;
• the packing list and the transport document (a bill of lading or a waybill);
• the names and telephone numbers of your customs broker and your forwarder;
• the arrival notice, when it reaches you.

Which customs papers are needed, and when, follows customs requirements. Leave that to your broker, and ask the broker to list what is needed from you.

Decide who does what

On the day, five jobs have to be done, and a plan is weak if one person is supposed to do all of them.

1. Receiving lead: speaks to the driver and the broker, and decides what is signed.
2. Counter: counts the packages and pallets, with a second person counting again.
3. Photographer: follows the checklist and records every remark.
4. Handlers and equipment operator: unload the goods and stage them.
5. Recorder: fills in the count sheets and the log.

In a small company one person may hold two roles, but the person who signs should not also be the one who counts. Name a deputy for each role, because a container never arrives on the day when everybody is free.

Prepare space and equipment

Work out the floor space before the goods come. A pallet takes roughly 1.2 square metres, so 20 pallets need about 24 square metres, and you need at least as much again for aisles and for counting. Keep a separate corner for cartons that are damaged or doubtful, and do not let them mix with sound goods.

Go through the equipment list:

• a forklift or pallet truck suited to your floor and to the way the cargo is loaded;
• good lighting, including for the inside of the container;
• spare pallets, stretch wrap, tape, markers and numbered tags;
• a table, clipboards, printed count sheets and the checklist;
• a charged phone or camera, and a power bank.

If the cartons are loaded loose on the floor, you need people and time, not only a machine. Plan for that in advance.

Questions to settle with your broker and forwarder

Ask these in writing a few days before arrival, and note the answers:

• What is the expected arrival window, and who will tell you if it changes?
• Where will the container be unloaded, and who delivers it there?
• What are the seal numbers, and was the shipment opened for inspection on the way?
• Which papers will the driver bring, and which will reach you later?
• Are there waiting or storage charges, and from when do they start?

Do not expect a firm answer to everything, since several of these depend on decisions by customs and by the carrier. The point is to know whom to ask on the day.

A conditional example

For one 40-foot container carrying 22 pallets, the plan could look like this. The driver is expected at 09:00, so the team of five meets at 08:30 and checks light, space and sheets. At 09:00 the seal is read and photographed. The doors open at 09:20. Unloading and the first count are planned for about 4 hours, with two counts of the 22 pallets. By 14:00 the quantity table is filled in, the remarks are agreed with the site manager, and the photographs are saved in a folder named with the container number and the date. These hours are an assumption. You judge them after the first pallets come out, and adjust.

In short

A first import goes well when the papers, the people and the space are ready before the doors open. CargoChek takes part in that plan as the receiving team: it agrees a checklist with you before arrival, attends the unloading, and reports on the count, the condition and the match with the documents.