Viindoo Freight Forwarding demo handbook
LCL import, air and road freight
Lesson 6. LCL imports, master shipments and house shipments
About 25 minutes. LCL is where a forwarder makes money, and also where it most easily loses it. This lesson shows how to consolidate several customers under one master bill of lading, split them into individual house shipments, and then allocate the cost back down. Every record in this lesson is created by you, so a second person repeating it still has every button to click.
Step 1 - Create an LCL shipment from the template
Go to Freight Forwarding > Operations > All Shipments, click New, click From Template, choose MẪU - LCL nhập khẩu gom hàng (Busan - Hải Phòng) (the LCL import consolidation template, Busan - Hải Phòng), click Apply.
You should see: Direction is Import, Load Mode is LCL, the shipment has two legs (the main sea leg Busan - Hải Phòng and a road On-Carriage leg), six stages, five charge lines and 8 tasks. The screenshot shows an LCL import whose consolidation warehouses were entered separately and whose tasks are not loaded. Like every shipment built from a template, the charge lines have no Cost Price or Vendor yet; this lesson does not need those two columns on the direct LCL shipment.
Good to know: this template does not carry the consolidation warehouses (Origin CFS, Destination CFS) or the ports (POL, POD) into the new shipment, and once the shipment has a main leg those fields are locked and cannot be edited. If you want a shipment with consolidation warehouses, create the shipment without a template and fill in those fields before confirming, as in Step 5.
Fill in Customer, Shipper, Consignee, then click Confirm.
Step 2 - Three differences from a full container
| Point | Full container (Lesson 1) | LCL |
|---|---|---|
| Route | port to port | must pass through a consolidation warehouse at both ends |
| Milestone chain | runs on the container equipment | runs on the packages |
| Cutoff deadline | SI, CY and VGM deadlines | the deadline to deliver cargo into the consolidation warehouse (the CFS Cutoff field), earlier because the warehouse still has to wait for the load to fill |
Step 3 - Run the LCL import milestone chain
The LCL milestone chain is not on the shipment's button bar but runs on each package. The LCL PACKAGES block appears only after the shipment is Confirmed. Open the Cargo & Packages tab, scroll down to the LCL PACKAGES block, add a package line (Package Reference, Package Type, Weight (kg), Volume (m³)), click Save, then click Next Package Stage.
You should see: each package line has a next-step button named after the status it is about to move to - at first In Transit (the package is at Pre-Alert). Each time you click that button or the Next Package Stage button, the status jumps one step (in the screenshot the package is still at Pre-Alert, so its button reads In Transit; after one click the button changes to At POD) until Delivered.
| Direction | The package status chain |
|---|---|
| Import | Pre-Alert > In Transit > At POD > At Destination CFS > Released > Delivered |
| Export | Draft > Ready > At Origin CFS > In Transit > At Destination CFS > Delivered |
Step 4 - Look at the three shipment roles
Go to Freight Forwarding > Operations > All Shipments. Click the arrow at the end of the search box, scroll down to Custom Group, and choose Shipment Role.
You should see: three groups, with the number of shipments next to each group name - about 500 direct shipments, more than 90 House LCL shipments and about 30 Master shipments (the numbers grow as people try the demo):
| Role | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Direct | one customer, one bill of lading |
| Master (Consol) | the master bill of lading that consolidates several customers |
| House LCL | the shipment of each individual LCL customer, sitting under the master shipment |
Step 5 - Create your own import master shipment
A master shipment is not created from a template. Go to Freight Forwarding > Operations > All Shipments, click New and fill in:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Direction | Import |
| Main Transport | Sea / Waterway (the default) |
| Shipment Role | Master (Consol) |
| Shipment Type | LCL - choose this one first so that the Origin CFS and Destination CFS fields appear (the POL and POD fields are then replaced by the two CFS fields) |
| Origin CFS, Destination CFS | the consolidation warehouses at both ends |
| Carrier | a shipping line |
| ETD/ETA | expected dates |
| Customer, Shipper, Consignee | any companies |
Save, then click Confirm. After confirming, the MBL No. field (the master bill of lading number, set by you) appears in the BILL OF LADING block - fill it in and save.
You should see: the status Confirmed, the system has generated a main leg automatically, and the button bar has a Deconsolidate button (this button appears even while the shipment is still in Draft - the screenshot shows an unconfirmed master that already has two house shipments).
Step 6 - Enter the cost price on the master shipment
Open the Charges tab of the master shipment and add two lines:
| Service product | Vendor | Cost Price |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal Handling Charge (THC) | a shipping line | 6,000,000 |
| Demurrage Fee | the same shipping line | 3,000,000 |
Save.
You should see: the two lines have Cost Price and Cost Amount equal to 6,000,000 and 3,000,000 (the selling Unit Price of these two lines is filled in by the product and is not used in this lesson). This is the charge billed by the shipping line for the whole container, and it will be split down to the house shipments in Step 8.
Step 7 - Split the master into house shipments
On the master shipment, click Deconsolidate. A wizard appears with a list of Consignees (the screenshot shows it before any line is entered). Add two lines, one for each LCL customer, and fill in HBL No., Commodity, Packages, Weight (kg), Volume (CBM). For example the first customer 2.5 CBM and the second 1.5 CBM. Click Create House Shipments.
You should see: the system creates two house shipments with the House LCL role (status Draft), each with its own HBL number and consignee, both linked back to the master; the master has a Packages stat button showing 2.
Step 8 - Look at the house shipments and allocate the cost
Go back to the master shipment. The stat button bar now has a Houses (0 released) button showing 2, and the Allocate Costs button has appeared. Click the Houses button to see the list of house shipments.
The Allocate Costs button appears only when the master has both of these: house shipments beneath it, and a cost that is not yet settled with the vendor and can be allocated. That is why you must split the shipment (Step 7) and enter the cost price (Step 6) first.
Click Allocate Costs (the dialog is titled Allocate Costs to House Shipments; your charges are already selected in the Select Charges section), then click Prepare Allocation. The screenshot shows this first step on another master shipment with five charges selected.
You should see: the dialog gains an Allocation Preview section listing each cost with a default Split Method of By Volume (the other choices: Equal, By Quantity, By Revenue Ton (W/M), Manual). The preview is not in the screenshot, which stops at the first step. In the example above, the 2.5 CBM customer receives 62.5% (the 6,000,000 charge becomes 3,750,000, the 3,000,000 charge becomes 1,875,000) and the 1.5 CBM customer receives 37.5% (2,250,000 and 1,125,000). Click Confirm Allocation.
Reopen each house shipment and its Charges tab: each house shipment now has two cost lines (a house shipment must be Confirmed before this tab appears), and the Allocated From column points to the master's line.
This is the money story of LCL. The main-leg freight billed by the shipping line is for the whole container. To know how much each LCL customer earns, you have to split that charge down. Split it wrongly and you think you made a profit all month when in fact you lost money.
Lesson 7. Air freight
About 12 minutes. The same process, only with the parts specific to air.
Step 1 - Look at the existing air shipments
Go to Freight Forwarding > Operations > Air > Air Shipments.
You should see: about 100 air shipments (Main Transport is Air); the Origin and Destination columns show airports instead of seaports.
Step 2 - Create an air shipment from the template
Click New, click From Template, choose MẪU - Hàng không xuất khẩu (Nội Bài - Incheon) (the air export template, Nội Bài - Incheon), click Apply.
You should see: at the top of the record, Main Transport is Air and Shipment Type is Loose; the Tasks button already shows 7 tasks taken from the template. The flight leg is in the Schedule & Performance tab. The Charges tab (the charge lines) appears only after you click Confirm on the shipment.
Fill in Customer, Shipper, Consignee, Carrier (an airline), Incoterm, ETD/ETA, save, then click Confirm.
Step 3 - Chargeable weight
Open the Cargo & Packages tab and add a line to the CARGO table if you want to describe the goods. An air shipment has no package-entry block in this tab: click the Packages stat button at the top of the record, click New and fill in Package Reference, Package Type, Weight (kg), Volume (m³) (for example 180 kg and 1.7 m3), then click Save and return to the shipment.
You should see: the shipment's Total Weight and Total Volume, calculated from the packages (with the example above, 180 kg and 1.7 m3), together with the cargo line you entered. The screenshot shows a different sample shipment with several cargo lines, totalling 1,709 kg and 2.2 m3.
Chargeable weight is calculated, but it is not shown on this screen. The system calculates the volumetric weight and the chargeable weight for every air shipment - for example shipment
SHP/2026/0475(and the shipment you just entered above) weighs 180 kg actual, with a volume of 1.7 m3, so the volumetric weight is 283.9 kg, and the airline charges on 283.9 kg. These two figures do not appear on the shipment record; they are printed only on the air cargo manifest template (the Air Cargo Manifest button of the booking form).Why it matters: a 30 kg carton of clothes that takes up 1 m3 will be charged as 167 kg. A salesperson who misreads this field loses money on that very order.
Step 4 - Book with the airline
Click Booking. The Create Booking wizard has the shipment and the airline already filled in; in Requested Details click Add a line, fill in Package Type, Quantity, Commodity, Weight, Volume (the wizard also creates a matching cargo line on the shipment), then click Create. Move the form through Mark as Requested and Mark as Confirmed as in Lesson 2.
You should see: an air booking form in the Confirmed status, with the Air Cargo Manifest button; you can find it again under Freight Forwarding > Bookings > Air > Air Bookings.
Step 5 - Prepare the house air waybill
On the air shipment, open the Required Documents tab and click Prepare HAWB.
You should see: the Prepare HAWB dialog with the shipment and the Document Name (the document title followed by the shipment number) already filled in; fill in HAWB No., Request To, HAWB Due Date, then click Prepare HAWB to create the document request.
Step 6 - Air delivery order
For an import shipment, the delivery order milestones are in the IMPORT OPERATIONS block right on the shipment record (the screenshot was taken from an existing import shipment of the demo system). The button that issues the order is Issue Air D/O, located in the Required Documents tab, and it appears only for an import air shipment that has no D/O number yet.
You should see: the D/O Number has been issued, together with the fields D/O Received, Arrival Notice Sent and Storage Free Time Expiry - the milestones that the import documentation team follows every day.
Lesson 8. Road freight across the border
About 10 minutes. Cross-border road transport has two things that sea and air do not: border crossings and trucks.
Step 1 - Look at the border crossing list
Go to Freight Forwarding > Configuration > Locations > Ports > Border Crossings.
You should see: 15 road border crossings, each row with Name, Code, Country, Adjoining Country, Province / State.
Step 2 - Look at the truck type list
Go to Shipment Management > Configuration > Other > Truck Types.
You should see: 9 truck types, each with its own Code and Max Payload (kg).
Step 3 - Look at the road shipments
Go to Freight Forwarding > Operations > Road > Road Shipments.
You should see: about 17 shipments running by road across a border (Main Transport is Road).
Step 4 - Create a road shipment from the template
Click New, click From Template, choose MẪU - Đường bộ qua cửa khẩu (the cross-border road template), click Apply.
You should see: at the top of the record, Main Transport is Road and Shipment Type is FTL; in place of the sea POL/POD there are two fields, Road Pickup and Road Delivery. The border crossing leg is in the Schedule & Performance tab; the shipment has 2 charge lines and 5 tasks from the template, and the Charges tab appears after the shipment is confirmed.
Step 5 - Enter the truck and the driver
The truck and driver are not entered on the leg but on the road booking form. Fill in Customer, Shipper, Consignee, Carrier (a road haulier), Incoterm, ETD/ETA, save, click Confirm, click Booking and then Create. On the form you just created click Mark as Requested and Mark as Confirmed - a Truck Items stat button showing 1 appears. Click it, open the truck line and fill in the fields; click Save.
You should see: one line per truck trip, with Driver (pick a contact), Truck Plate, Pickup Date and Truck Type - the truck type is taken from the list in Step 2. This is the data printed on the Delivery Note and the Cargo Manifest, two buttons sitting right on the form's button bar.
