5. Building Your Shipment Step-by-Step

Step 1: General Shipment Details

You begin by defining the operational foundation of the shipment.

For MVP, Open Nexus currently supports:

• Transport Mode: Sea
• Shipping Type: FCL (Full Container Load)

You will enter:

• Cargo Ready Date (date when cargo is available for pick-up)
• POL (Port of Loading)
• POD (Port of Discharge)
• Incoterms

These are critical inputs because they determine how the shipment will be planned and executed.

Hint:
The POL and POD you define here will automatically flow into your schedule later — you won't need to re-enter them.

Step 2: Add Shipment Parties

Now you define who is involved in the shipment.

You will select:

• Freight Forwarding Organization (Partner Side)
• Shipper (sender of goods)
• Consignee (receiver of goods)

Freight Forwarding Organization Logic

• If you are creating the file from the origin side, you will enter the destination freight forwarder
• Your own organization details are automatically pre-filled and not shown.

Important:

• Freight Forwarding Organizations currently must be claimed tenants
• They are selected from your Private Directory
• They cannot be created manually in the organization contact directory

Step 3: Container Details

Here you define the physical shipment:

• Container size & type (e.g. 20FT GP, 40FT GP)
• Number of containers
• Commodity

Hint:
If the commodity is not listed, select "Freight All Kinds". For mixed cargo types, select "NVOCC Consolidated Cargo."

Step 4: Schedule Details (Manual Entry)

Now you define how the shipment will move operationally.

Some data is already pre-filled:

• POL and POD (from Step 1)

You will now add:

• Carrier details (if known)
• Vessel details (if known)
• ETD / ETA
• Freight Terms
• Transshipment details (if applicable)
• Rates (if available/ necessary)

Hint:
Think of this step as converting your shipment plan into an executable transport schedule.

Step 5: Create the Booking File

Once completed:

• Submit the file
• The Booking File is created and becomes Active

At this point, the system automatically:

• Generates Default Tasks
• Enables communication
• Allows document uploads