Consolidation: transport units and containers

A transport unit is the equipment that carries the load: a container, a tank container, a vehicle, a trailer, a wagon, a unit load device (ULD) or a swap body. The application records its identification —for containers, the ISO 6346 number with its check digit verified—, the type, the seals, the tare and the gross mass and, when it applies, the fumigation and the coolant.

Its content is lines of the shipments: each unit states how many packages of each line it carries and in which stowage position, and the same shipment may travel split between several units. On that content the application checks segregation and issues the packing certificate, the multimodal hazardous materials form, the checklist and the consolidation label of the unit.

A unit may belong to a master shipment and travel on one or several transport movements.

1. Open Consolidation and Transport units, and press New.
2. On the General Data tab, choose the Type, type the Identification and check the Load state. For a container, the identification is the ISO 6346 number: four letters, six digits and the check digit.
3. If the unit travels in a consolidation, choose it in Master shipment. Also record, if you have them, the seals, the tare and the gross mass.
4. Press Save Changes.
5. Go to the Content tab, choose the Shipment and press Load the whole shipment, or Add to pick only some lines.
6. Adjust Packages in this unit and Stowage position in each row, and press Save Changes.
7. Press Check segregation and read the result.

A shipment may be split between several units, but together they cannot carry more packages than each line has.

The container or vehicle packing certificate of IMDG 5.4.2 declares that the unit was loaded according to the code. DGAssistant only offers it when the checks that support it are green.

1. Open Consolidation and Transport units, and edit the unit.
2. Go to the Packing tab and fill in Name of company responsible for packing/loading, Name and status of declarant, Place, Date and Reference number. Press Save Changes.
3. Check that every line of Checks before the certificate is green: for each shipment loaded, Is Valid?, Pending packages at 0 and Transport Document; for the unit, the Segregation check, current and not forbidden.
4. Tick Container/vehicle packing certificate and press Generate.

While any line is amber or red, the certificate box cannot be ticked. Each line starts with the number of its shipment, so the list shows which one is missing something.

The multimodal hazardous materials form of IMDG 5.4.5 gathers in one document the declaration of the shipper and the packing certificate of the unit, which is what the terminal usually asks for at the gate.

1. Open Consolidation and Transport units, and edit the unit.
2. Go to the Packing tab and check that the certificate data are complete.
3. Tick Transport Document and press Generate.

The form only exists for the shipments of the unit that travel under IMDG. When the unit carries several shipments, the application issues one form for each of them, each with its own page numbering, so that the pages are not mixed up.

The segregation report of the unit lists the goods that share the container and, for each pair to which a segregation provision applies, the separation that the regulation requires and the verdict that results.

1. Open Consolidation and Transport units, and edit the unit.
2. Go to the Segregation tab and press Check segregation.
3. Read the matrix and the findings: ALLOWED, ALLOWED WITH CONDITIONS or FORBIDDEN.
4. Press Documents to open the report. It can also be issued from the Packing tab: tick Segregation report of the cargo transport unit and press Generate.

If the content of the unit changes afterwards, or the hazardous materials data of a product loaded in it change (for example its UN number, its class, its labels or its limited quantity), the check is marked as obsolete and has to be run again before the certificate is signed.

The checklist of the unit is what the person who closes the doors goes through before signing: the condition of the container, the packages and their stowage and securing, the marks, labels and placards that the unit has to carry, and the documents.

1. Open Consolidation and Transport units, and edit the unit.
2. Go to the Packing tab.
3. Tick Cargo transport unit checklist (before signing the packing certificate), choose the language of the person who is going to sign it, and press Generate.

The list can be issued in any of the languages of the application, which is what allows it to be signed at a terminal in another country.

The consolidation label identifies the unit from the outside: its number among the units of the master shipment, the booking number, the seals, the ports of loading and discharge, the vessel and voyage, the consolidator and the consignee, and the classes of hazardous materials that it carries.

1. Open Consolidation and Transport units, and edit the unit.
2. Check in the Content tab that every line that travels in the unit is recorded.
3. Go to the Packing tab.
4. Tick Consolidation label and press Generate.

The label takes the classes, the packages and the mass from the goods loaded, so a change of content changes the label and it has to be printed again. The label does not replace the placards: it reminds that they have to be displayed on the four sides of the unit.