Book carrier space for a shipment leg¶
Guide information
Requirements
This tutorial requires the installation of the following applications/modules:
Freight Sale - required for this sales-order workflow and the automatic carrier suggestion in Step 2. It may install automatically when all its dependencies are present; check Installed Apps before starting.
A booking is the internal record of a space request with a carrier for one leg of a shipment - the main ocean or air leg, or a trucking leg. Every later step reads it: the wrong carrier sends the request to the wrong company, and the wrong coverage makes Viindoo ask for legs that do not exist yet on the shipment. Confirming the booking creates or updates the freight charge for that leg, so a booking left unconfirmed may leave its cost unrecorded.
Running scenario: Hai Long Logistics exports 2 x 40HC of footwear for Nhat Long Footwear, route Hai Phong Port to Port of Los Angeles, carrier ONE Line, Incoterm CFR (Port of Los Angeles), Freight Prepaid. The Ocean Freight - FCL line was sold at USD 2,150 per container with ONE Line already recorded as the expected carrier; confirming the sales order created the shipment and its one main carriage leg. Minh (Booking Officer) now books the carrier space for that leg.
Before you start¶
The shipment is already Confirmed - the Booking button only appears once the status bar reads Confirmed.
If the shipment came from a sales order, the Ocean Freight service line already carries the expected carrier (ONE Line) from before the sales order was confirmed. Without that, the carrier suggestion in Step 2 is left blank instead.
You are in the User: All Shipments group, not User: Own Shipments (ask your freight Administrator to grant this access before starting) - Own Shipments can view a booking but cannot click any button on it.
lists every existing booking, but it has no New button - a booking can only be created from a shipment, never from this list directly.
Step 1: Open the Create Booking wizard¶
The button only appears once the shipment is Confirmed - before that, there is no locked route or container count yet to book against.
Go to and open the shipment for Nhat Long Footwear (SHP/26xx/000nn). In the header, click Booking.
After you click it, the Create Booking window opens with Booking Type Main Carriage Booking and this shipment’s one main carriage leg already selected.
If a different type of booking is needed, choose it here before continuing:
Booking Type |
Use when |
|---|---|
Main Carriage Booking |
Booking the main ocean, air or road leg (the default, and the only one used in this guide) |
Pre-Carriage Booking |
Booking a truck to move containers to the origin port or the packing warehouse |
On-Carriage Booking |
Booking a truck to deliver from the destination port |
Tip
Step 1 is done when:
The Create Booking window shows exactly 1 leg selected - the main carriage leg of SHP/26xx/000nn.
Booking Type reads Main Carriage Booking.
Decide the carrier coverage¶
Carrier Coverage (labelled Coverage on this window) decides which legs this one booking is expected to cover. Choosing more than the carrier actually covers makes Viindoo ask for legs that are not on the shipment yet.
Coverage |
Use when |
What changes |
|---|---|---|
Main Only |
Only the sea leg is booked with the carrier; any inland trucking is bought separately (for this shipment, the empty container pickup from Phuong Nam Transport, see Buy subcontracted services with purchase orders) |
Only the main carriage leg is expected to be booked |
Pickup + Main |
The forwarder also books pre-carriage trucking to the origin port |
A pre-carriage leg must already exist on the shipment |
Main + Delivery |
The forwarder also books on-carriage trucking from the destination port |
An on-carriage leg must already exist on the shipment |
Full Route |
Door to door |
Both a pre-carriage and an on-carriage leg must already exist on the shipment |
Choose the booking scope that matches the service confirmed in the customer quote and carrier instructions. Main Only applies when only the main carriage is covered and any inland legs are arranged separately; select a door-to-door or combined scope only when those legs are part of the confirmed service and are set up on the shipment. If the agreed coverage is unclear, ask Sales or the booking lead before creating the booking.
See also
The buy and sell rates used to price this leg are set up before any booking exists - see Maintain carrier rates and vessel schedules.
Step 2: Confirm the carrier and the coverage¶
Viindoo already knows which carrier the customer was quoted, so it suggests that carrier here instead of leaving the field empty. Confirming it (rather than typing a new one) keeps the booking aligned with what was sold.
In the Create Booking window:
Carrier: ONE Line - filled in automatically because the shipment’s only main carriage leg maps to a sales line that names exactly one carrier.
Coverage: Main Only (decided above).
With Coverage Main Only, the Schedule & Location section shows From Location: Vietnam - HPH (VN) and To Location: United States - USLAX (US) - read-only, taken from the leg that already exists on the shipment.
Warning
Changing Coverage to Pickup + Main, Main + Delivery or Full Route without the matching pre-carriage or on-carriage leg already on the shipment blocks the booking later, with (shipment name and coverage filled in):
Shipment <shipment> requires a pre-carriage leg before using carrier coverage '<coverage>'.
The on-carriage case reads “requires an on-carriage leg”. Create the missing leg on the shipment first.
Tip
Step 2 is done when: Carrier reads ONE Line, Coverage reads Main Only, and From Location / To Location read Vietnam - HPH (VN) / United States - USLAX (US).
Step 3: Create the booking¶
Click Create.
The booking is created in Draft status, linked to the main carriage leg selected in Step 1, with Carrier = ONE Line.
Tip
Step 3 is done when: the booking opens with Status = Draft, Carrier = ONE Line, and the shipment field points to SHP/26xx/000nn.
Step 4: Print the Booking Request and send it to the carrier¶
ONE Line needs a written request before it issues a real booking number - Viindoo does not send this for you, it only prepares the document.
With the booking open, click Print Booking Request (this button only appears when the leg’s transport mode is Waterway). The Prepare Booking Request window opens. Review its optional service contract, routing remarks, payment terms and confirmation recipient against the instructions agreed with the carrier. Leave fields empty if no instruction applies; do not invent a contract number or refrigerated-cargo settings for this dry-container shipment. Click Print Booking Request in this window to download the PDF. Printing keeps the booking in Draft; it does not send the request to the carrier.
Note
Review the PDF before sending it. At this checkpoint, the Quoted FCL containers row requests 2 x 40HC, but the shipment’s cargo has not been entered yet. The weight and volume printed from that request row are not a verified declaration of the footwear cargo. Complete and check the cargo particulars before sending the final request. The current PDF does not print the internal booking number or carrier name; identify the booking and intended carrier in your email or portal submission.
Send the downloaded PDF to ONE Line yourself, by email or through the carrier’s own portal - this happens outside Viindoo.
Note
There is no button in Viindoo that sends this PDF for you. See Known limitations below.
Step 5: Mark the booking as Requested, then as Confirmed¶
Mark as Requested records that the request has gone out; Mark as Confirmed locks the booking against ONE Line’s actual reply and is what creates the freight charge for this leg.
Once the PDF has been sent, click Mark as Requested. The booking moves to status Requested.
When ONE Line replies, fill in, in the Carrier Response section:
Booking Reference: ONEYBK204581 - copied exactly from ONE Line’s confirmation, not retyped from memory.
Main Vessel / Main Voyage: ONE COMMITMENT / 026W, as confirmed by ONE Line.
Check the shipment’s ETD/ETA against the carrier’s dated confirmation, including the departure and arrival times: 2026-11-05 20:00 / 2026-12-01 08:00 in this example. The Create Booking window shows dates only, so do not assume it preserved the time from the selected sailing. Open the booking’s Primary Leg, check ETD/ETA in Schedule & Performance, and correct both times there. Recheck the shipment header and the booking’s ETA before continuing; changing only the shipment header can leave the booked leg’s times unchanged.
Also fill in CY Cutoff (2026-11-04 12:00), SI Cutoff (2026-11-02 17:00) and VGM Cutoff (2026-11-03 17:00) from the same confirmation - they are stored on the shipment.
Click Mark as Confirmed.
Note
Clicking Mark as Requested also creates the containers the booking asked for - here 2 Container 40FT HC - on the shipment. The sea booking form has no field for the master bill of lading: record MBL No. on the shipment’s Bill of Lading section once ONE Line issues it (see Export a full container load by sea).
Warning
A Booking Officer with All Shipments but no read access to the linked Sales Order can currently get an Access Error when confirming this quote-linked booking. The cost lookup reads the quoted sailing through that order. If this happens, the booking remains Requested and no charge update is saved. Do not treat it as confirmed. Send the error and booking reference to your administrator or support team; arrange confirmation by a user already authorized for both records.
Because this booking’s leg is already mapped to the confirmed sales order line, confirming it does not create a second charge - it updates the Ocean Freight - FCL line that was already on the shipment since the sales order was confirmed:
Cost Price: filled in as 1,850 USD/container, read from ONE Line’s rate card.
Vendor: set to ONE Line.
Unit Price: unchanged at 2,150 USD/container - the sell price agreed with Nhat Long Footwear is never touched by confirming a booking.
Important
A confirmed booking’s fields stay editable, but changing Carrier or Coverage re-runs the same checks as Step 2. There is no “un-confirm” step other than Reset to Draft, which is only available from Requested or Cancelled.
Tip
Step 5 is done when: the booking shows Status = Confirmed, and the shipment’s Charges tab shows exactly one Ocean Freight - FCL line with both Unit Price = 2,150 USD and Cost Price = 1,850 USD per container - not two separate lines.
Known limitations¶
Step |
What Viindoo does today |
What you do instead |
|---|---|---|
Send the Booking Request (Step 4) |
Mark as Requested only changes the booking’s status in Viindoo - it does not send any email or message to the carrier |
Send the PDF yourself first, through your own email or the carrier’s portal, then click Mark as Requested to record that it was sent |
Confirm a booking with no linked sales order (Step 5) |
When the shipment was created directly, with no sales order line resolved onto this leg, confirming the booking instead creates a brand-new Ocean Freight line with Unit Price fixed at 0.00 |
Always open the Charges tab right after confirming and enter the sell price yourself before invoicing - treat it as a required step, not something to double-check |
Troubleshooting¶
The booking cannot be requested or confirmed¶
Symptom: clicking Mark as Requested or Mark as Confirmed shows (booking number filled in):
Booking <booking> must be linked to a shipment leg before it can be requested.
or the same message ending “before it can be confirmed.”
Cause: the booking has no Primary Leg - this normally cannot happen through the wizard, but can if the shipment’s legs changed after the booking was created. Primary Leg is read-only on the booking form.
Fix: cancel this booking and create a new one with the Booking button on the shipment, which links the leg automatically.
Coverage is rejected when confirming¶
Symptom: confirming the booking shows one of these messages (names filled in):
Carrier coverage 'Main Only' requires booking <booking> to use the shipment's main carriage leg.
Carrier coverage '<coverage>' is not allowed for shipment service scope '<scope>'.
Cause: the Coverage chosen on the booking does not match the leg it is linked to, or is wider than the shipment’s own service scope (for example choosing Full Route on a port-to-port shipment).
Fix: change Coverage back to a value the shipment’s service scope allows, or fix the shipment’s service scope first if door-to-door is genuinely needed.
Carrier stays blank and the booking will not save¶
Symptom: Carrier is required but empty, and there is only one leg on the booking.
Cause: the leg maps to more than one sales line with different carriers, or to none at all - Viindoo leaves Carrier blank rather than guessing between them.
Fix: select the carrier yourself; correct it later if the customer’s carrier changes.
See also
Related articles
Export a full container load by sea - the full FCL export workflow this booking belongs to
Charges and Profitability - reviewing and correcting freight charges after booking
Track container milestones from empty pickup to return - what happens to the containers after the booking is confirmed