Pre-Arrival Briefing: What Your Inspector Needs a Day Before

The best receiving checks are won the day before. When an inspector arrives with nothing but an address, the first part of the visit goes on finding the gate, finding the person with the keys and finding the document that explains what is in the container. Time that should go into counting goes into questions, while the driver waits. A short briefing the day before turns all that into a quiet start. It need not be formal. A single message, or a single page, is enough, provided it covers the same items every time.

The essentials to send

1. The shipment reference, and the container number or the truck plate if you already have it.
2. The expected arrival, as a window rather than a single hour, and how you will update it.
3. The unloading site: the full address, the gate to use, working hours, and any pass or booking needed to enter.
4. A contact on site, by name and telephone, who can open the gate and the doors, and a second contact in case the first does not answer.
5. The goods in one line, the number of packages and pallets, and whether the load is one item or mixed.
6. The documents: invoice, packing list, bill of lading and purchase order, as readable scans, in their latest versions.
7. The shipping marks and item codes that should appear on the cartons.
8. Special points: fragile or heavy items, cartons that must not be stacked, a suspicion of damp, the sample size you want, any instruction from the supplier.
9. Who can decide on the spot, and who must be called before anything is signed.

Why each item matters

A window instead of a time, because containers rarely arrive at the minute announced. Give the window, and ask for a word when the truck leaves the terminal.

The gate, because yards and terminals often have more than one, and a wrong one costs time that nobody has.

Two contacts, because the first person is always the one whose phone is off.

The latest versions of the papers, because if the supplier sends an amended packing list, your inspector must be holding the same one that you hold. Otherwise the report compares the cargo with the wrong paper.

The marks and codes, because they let the inspector recognise your goods among other cargo and spot strays at once.

The decision-maker, because an inspector who cannot reach anyone is left to choose between delaying the driver and signing blind.

A sample briefing

A conditional example of what such a message can look like. Shipment KH-214: one 40-foot container expected between 10:00 and 14:00 at gate 2 of the unloading yard. Site contact: the yard supervisor, with a second contact in the office. The load is 22 pallets of 48 cartons, one item code per pallet, which makes 1,056 cartons. Invoice, packing list and bill of lading attached, as received the previous evening. Shipping mark KH-214 on every carton. Three pallets of glassware to be opened first. Decisions about signing rest with the purchasing manager, reachable by telephone all day. Those few lines spare the questions that would otherwise be asked at the gate while the driver waits.

What to ask in return, and what to send on the day

Ask the inspector for four things:

• Confirmation that the briefing arrived, with the names and telephone numbers of the people who will attend.
• The checklist and the counting method, for your approval.
• The time the check is likely to need, so that you can tell the driver and the carrier.
• When you can expect the first message with results.

On the day, send a short update each time something changes: the truck is delayed, the gate has changed, the broker reports that the container was inspected or opened on the way, or a document has been amended. Send it to the same people each time. A briefing that is right at six in the evening can be wrong by nine in the morning, and the inspector should never learn about a change at the gate.

In short

A briefing costs a few minutes the evening before, and it saves the first hour of the day. CargoChek begins in exactly this way: you tell us about the shipment, we agree the checklist before it arrives, and on the day the team is at the container knowing what to look for.