Pre-shipment advice and documentation

A shipment advice is a commercial document , which is issued by the exporter, who is the beneficiary of the letter of credit, in order to give shipment details to the importer, who is the applicant of the letter of credit.

What is the function of a shipment advice or shipping advice in international trade transactions?
The main function of the shipment advice is to allow importers to arrange transport insurance in a timely manner. Especially this document is vital importer in which situations importers have to arrange the transport insurance, such as FCA, FOB, CFR, FAS, CPT and EXW deliveries. A shipping advice informs the details of the shipments to the importer. By having the details of the shipment in advance, Importer could arrange the transport insurance. For example if shipment has been made via sea shipment, importer could arrange a marine insurance policy with the information he received from the shipment advice.

Importer could track the shipment by using the necessary information that have been collected from the shipping advice. For example, importer could track the container if he knows either the container number or bill of lading no. Both of these two information could be gathered from the shipment advice. Importer could initiate import custom operations if exporter supplied copy of shipment documents along with the shipment advice. In any case, importer have to present original shipment documents to the custom authorities upon arrival of the goods.

What sort of information a shipment advice should contain?
A shipment advice should cover all the details of the shipment. In addition to that the importer will be able to make the insurance coverage with the information provided by the advice of shipment.