Shipment hierarchy
A shipment is the top-level record representing a consignment moving from origin to destination. It may contain one or more legs (ocean, air, truck, rail) and one or more containers or handling units. House bills and master bills link to shipments but remain distinct objects for documentation and customs purposes.
| Object | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Shipment | End-to-end move for a customer order | SHP-2026-11842 |
| Leg | Single transport segment | Shanghai → Los Angeles (vessel) |
| Container | Equipment unit on a leg | TGHU9876543 |
| House bill (HBL) | Forwarder-issued transport document | ORB-HBL-8821 |
| Master bill (MBL) | Carrier-issued contract of carriage | MAEU-MBL-449201 |
Consolidated LCL shipments share a master bill while each shipper retains an individual house bill. Orbex Data tracks both levels without duplicating milestone events.
Milestones and events
Milestones are standardized checkpoints in a shipment lifecycle. Carrier feeds, port systems, and manual updates produce raw events that Orbex Data normalizes into milestones such as Gate In, Loaded on Vessel, Departed POL, Arrived POD, Customs Released, and Delivered.
- Planned milestones come from booking data and sailing schedules
- Actual milestones reflect confirmed carrier or terminal events
- Predicted milestones use transit models when carrier data is delayed
- Exception milestones flag delays, rollovers, or documentation holds
Milestone confidence
Each milestone displays a source badge—Carrier, Terminal, Manual, or Predicted—so your team knows when to verify before communicating ETAs to customers.
Parties and roles
Parties represent organizations and contacts involved in a shipment: shipper, consignee, notify party, customs broker, carrier, and warehouse. Party records deduplicate across shipments so address changes propagate consistently.
Workspace vs. shipment parties
Your workspace maintains a directory of frequent trading partners. When creating shipments, you attach parties from the directory or enter one-off addresses. Finance integrations match invoices to consignee and shipper records in this directory.
Documents and compliance
Documents attach to shipments with typed classifications: Bill of Lading, Commercial Invoice, Packing List, Certificate of Origin, ISF, and custom types you define. Validation rules check required fields, expiry dates, and consistency between document values and shipment master data.
- Upload or receive document via email ingestion
- OCR and field extraction populate structured data
- Validation rules flag discrepancies (weight, HS code, Incoterms)
- Approved documents sync to ERP or customer portals
Exceptions and SLAs
An exception is a deviation from plan: missed cut-off, customs hold, container rolled to next vessel, or documentation gap. Orbex Data auto-detects many exceptions from milestone gaps and document status. Each exception type can carry an SLA timer and escalation path.
Exceptions are not errors
In logistics, exceptions are normal. Orbex Data helps you manage them systematically rather than hiding them in inbox threads.