Shipment Process Management

Fort will establish two-way communication with EDI-capable clients to initiate a new shipment.
We can also adapt to any manual processes by transforming PDF and Excel files into data to guarantee consistent and compliant information across all necessary documents.

Process Electronic Booking Requests

Most Global carriers have transitioned to electronic booking processes and typically assess a surcharge if bookings are made manually.
Fort was among the very first forwarders to implement a systematic booking process.
Since 1980 we embraced the use of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and expanded it throughout the entire shipment process.
This results in efficiency, improved accuracy, and timely transmission of data.
Upon receipt of the Booking Confirmation, we systematically enforce compliance with the size and type of equipment required, any temperature requirements, the requested route, and compliance with the shipment plan.

Shipment + Delivery Requirements

Fort systematically monitors your shipment and delivery requirements.
We check for compliance with planned shipment date from the warehouse, the expected arrival date at destination, in accordance with the Customer’s Requested Delivery Date.
Any changes to the expected delivery date are systematically sent upon receipt of EDI 315 status messages or a change in our system departure and arrival schedules.

Tracking + The System Sailing Schedule

Vessel departures are impacted by many factors.
Cargo receiving, departure and arrival can change based on operational reasons, weather conditions, and other variables.
Fort maintains a System Sailing Schedule for each vessel voyage and for each port of loading to each port of discharge.
All shipment transport plan dates are applied through our system sailing schedule.
This enables consistency of data for multiple shipments on the same vessel and route.
The system automatically communicates any changes to the transport plan throughout the shipments life-cycle.
We generate comprehensive reports which are used by our customers to monitor the performance of all parties.

Shipment Documentation + Document Delivery

Fort’s system produces all standard export documents that are required to clear shipments through customs.
We write programs to produce any special documents that may be needed which are not already provided by our customer.
We can capture a customers shipment information by EDI or convert PDF and spreadsheet information and merge the data with customer profiles maintained in our system.
The captured data is used to provide consistency of information across all system created documents eliminating shipment and clearance delays at origin and destination avoiding unnecessary costs for demurrage, storage charges and customs fines.
The required documents are maintained in our databases for each customer and automatically merged into our shipment file when we initiate a shipment.
We systematically create and dispatch the required documents to the customer via an email attachment.
Some shipments also require original documents, in which case the system produces the complete set of documents along with any originals to be sent out by courier.
Our process allows us to efficiently create and share documentation with the fastest possible turnaround time.

Automated Freight Audit and Payment System

Fort Forwarding provides reliable auditing and payment processing services for our clients.
Expected transport costs are maintained in our database and systematically incorporated in the shipment record.
Charges assessed by the carrier are audited against the anticipated costs.
If the audit fails Fort attempts to resolve the issue.
If a carrier maintains that their rate is accurate we will communicate this fact with our customer who will have the final determination of whether to approve or continue a dispute.