Shipping Instructions (SI) Generator
Draft complete shipping instructions for your forwarder or carrier — every B/L field, ready before the cut-off.
Sources & references
- Carrier SI submission requirements / B/L draft practice
- UCP 600 — documentary compliance (LC shipments)
This tool runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Information is provided for operational convenience; verify regulated or contractual matters against the official source.
Shipping instructions are where the bill of lading is actually written: whatever you submit before the SI cut-off becomes the legal document of the shipment — parties, goods description, weights, freight terms. Most B/L amendments (at $50–$150 a piece, plus delay) are SI errors discovered later. This generator drafts a complete SI with every field the carrier's desk expects, in the order they expect it.
About Shipping Instructions (SI) Generator
The fields encode the classic traps: the consignee block determines negotiability ('TO ORDER' makes the B/L a bankable document — LC shipments usually require it, straight consignment kills it); the goods description must match the commercial invoice AND any LC text verbatim; the B/L type choice (originals vs seaway vs telex) decides how release at destination will work weeks later. The special-instructions field is where LC-mandated clauses go — verbatim, because banks read literally. Process discipline finishes the job: submit well before the cut-off, demand the draft B/L, and proofread it against the SI and the LC character by character before approving. The render's closing line commits the carrier to a draft cycle — the four-hour approval promise is your own deadline too, because a draft unverified is an amendment waiting to bill.
How to use Shipping Instructions (SI) Generator
- 1Fill in the fields on the left — the document preview updates live as you type.
- 2Review the rendered text until every line reads exactly as you want it.
- 3Click “Download PDF” for a print-ready copy, or “Copy text” to paste it elsewhere.
- 4Keep the file with your shipment records — generation happens locally in your browser.
Why use Shipping Instructions (SI) Generator?
- ✓Live preview that updates with every keystroke
- ✓One-click print-ready PDF export, generated entirely client-side
- ✓Structured fields so nothing required gets forgotten
- ✓Free, private and reusable — your entries never leave the browser
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between consignee 'TO ORDER' and a named consignee?+
Negotiability. 'TO ORDER' (of shipper, or of a bank) makes the B/L a document of title transferable by endorsement — required by most LCs and useful when the buyer pays against documents. A named (straight) consignee fixes delivery to that party and simplifies release, but removes the document's security function. The choice is a payment-terms decision wearing a logistics costume — get it from whoever owns the sales contract.
Why must the goods description match the invoice exactly?+
Two readers compare it: customs (mismatches trigger queries and exams) and — on LC shipments — banks, which reject documents over wording deviations as small as abbreviations. The safe practice is one canonical description, written once, pasted everywhere: invoice, packing list, SI, and (if an LC exists) lifted from the LC's own text verbatim.
Originals, seaway bill or telex release — which should I choose?+
By payment risk: originals (3/3) when payment isn't secured — the buyer needs the document to take cargo; seaway bill when trust is established or it's intercompany — instant release, no paper chase; telex release when originals exist but you want destination release without couriering them. LC shipments: whatever the LC says, exactly. The wrong choice surfaces weeks later as a cargo-stuck-at-port email.
What happens if I miss the SI cut-off?+
Best case: the carrier accepts a late SI with a fee. Common case: the box rolls to the next sailing even though it's physically gated in — no instructions, no stowage-relevant documentation, no load. The SI cut-off typically runs 2–4 days before ETD (earlier than gate cut-off), which surprises teams who watch only the vessel date. Track every booking's cut-offs on our port cut-off tracker.
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