Receiving Shipments
Registering a Container Early
Create a draft shipment from a booking confirmation so a container appears on your dashboard before its documents arrive.
4 min readLast updated
Goal
Register a container as soon as you have booking confirmation, so it appears on your dashboard before any paperwork exists.
Before you start
- The container number, exactly as it appears on the booking (ISO 6346, e.g.
MSCU1234567). This is what later documents match against. - An ETA and port of discharge. Both are required.
- Nothing else. Creating a draft is free and consumes no plan quota.
When to use a draft
A draft shipment registers a container before the packing list and other documents arrive. This is useful when:
- You know the container is on its way but documents haven’t been sent yet
- You want to track the vessel ETA on your dashboard immediately
- You need to allocate pallets or notify receivers ahead of document receipt
Draft shipments are marked with a Manual entry badge throughout the interface so they’re easy to distinguish from fully-processed shipments.
Creating a Draft Shipment
- Navigate to Shipments and click New Shipment
- Click Enter container details manually (below the upload area)
- Fill in the required fields and click Create Draft Shipment
Required fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Container number | ISO container number (e.g., MSCU1234567) |
| ETA | Estimated date of arrival at the port of discharge |
| Port of discharge | Destination port (e.g., Rotterdam, NL) |
| Produce | The type of fresh produce in the container |
Optional fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| ETD | Estimated departure date from the port of loading |
| Vessel | Vessel or flight name |
| Port of loading | Origin port |
| Transport type | Ocean (default), Air, or Road |
| Shipper / Grower | Name of the exporter or grower |
What Happens Next
When documents arrive by email
When a supplier or freight forwarder emails the packing list to your Trackberry inbox, the system will automatically match the incoming document to the draft shipment using the container number. The draft is then upgraded to a full shipment — packing list data is extracted, pallets are populated, and the manual badge is removed.
No manual action is needed. The document email is processed exactly the same way as if no draft had been created.
Tip: Make sure the container number on the draft matches the one on the packing list exactly (e.g.,
MSCU1234567notMSC U 1234567). Trackberry normalises spacing and casing, but an incorrect number will prevent automatic matching.
Uploading documents manually
If you receive documents by another means (e.g., a shared folder or WhatsApp), you can attach them directly to the draft:
- Open the draft shipment
- Click Add documents
- Upload the packing list — extraction starts immediately
Billing
Creating a draft shipment is free. Your plan usage is only counted when:
- Shipping documents are processed (packing list extraction)
- Container tracking is activated
A draft that is never matched to documents does not consume any plan quota.
Editing a Draft
All fields on a draft shipment can be edited after creation — including the container number, ETA, and produce type — via the shipment settings page. Updates to the ETA will trigger the usual ETA-change notifications to your team members only if an ETA was previously set and has meaningfully changed.
Limitations
- Draft shipments do not yet have pallet or quality data — only the container details you entered manually are shown.
- Container tracking (live position updates) is not activated until documents have been processed and a full shipment record exists.
- Draft shipments appear in the shipments list alongside fully-processed shipments and can be filtered by the Manual badge.