Booking Overview

Application Requirements

Requirements

Install Freight Forwarder (viin_freight_management) to access the booking features described in this guide.

Booking Fundamentals

What is Booking?

Booking is the act of reserving space with a carrier so your cargo has a confirmed place on the vessel, aircraft, or truck—similar to purchasing a flight ticket before the departure date.

The typical flow looks like this:

  1. Prepare complete shipment information (quantities, weights, locations).

  2. Send the booking request to the carrier.

  3. Receive the carrier’s confirmation and booking number.

  4. Deliver the cargo according to the agreed schedule.

Viindoo Freight Forwarder keeps every step organised, auditable, and shared with the full team.

Why Manage Bookings?

Operational efficiency

Avoid last-minute space shortages, keep schedules visible, and maintain a searchable booking history in one workspace.

Fewer mistakes

Booking records inherit shipment data automatically, eliminating copy-paste errors from spreadsheets or emails.

Cost tracking

When carriers change or voyages split, bookings link revenue, purchase orders, and notifications so stakeholders react immediately.

Operational Notes

Important

Current capabilities

  • Rejected booking: Reuse the booking (Cancel → Reset to Draft → Adjust → Confirm).

  • Additional container: Create new booking automatically for additional containers.

  • Manual coordination is still required when bookings already created purchase orders.

Planned improvements

  • Automatic warnings when resetting bookings that already have purchase orders.

  • Automatic PO updates when switching carriers in confirmed bookings.

  • Extra validation to prevent duplicate active bookings.

Learn more in Booking Rejected and Frequently Asked Questions.

Booking Guide Map

Use the links below based on the question you are trying to answer.

Understand the Big Picture

Need the narrative version of why bookings matter, how they fit the freight flow, or what improvements are coming next? Stay in this overview—it’s the conceptual starting point for new users and managers.

Prepare and Create Bookings

Ready to build bookings from real shipments? Follow Create Bookings to review prerequisites, learn both creation methods, and understand how multi-leg routes translate into one or multiple bookings.

Decode the Booking Form

Stuck on a particular field, tab, or status? Open Booking Details to see every data point explained with transport-mode specifics and status behaviors.

Operational Workflow and Edge Cases

Have a confirmed booking that needs edits, or a carrier that just rejected space? Booking Workflow and Scenarios walks through the day-to-day lifecycle plus situations like carrier switches, extra containers, and booking reuse.

Search, Collaborate, and Troubleshoot

Need to monitor dozens of bookings, notify stakeholders, or look up glossary terms? Jump to Booking Management Tools and FAQ for filtering tips, chatter best practices, and the frequently asked questions.

Note

Need to see how bookings are launched from the shipment workspace? Jump to Booking for Shipments for the short, shipment-centric walkthrough.