This page explains how a shipment moves from our packing floor to your warehouse, what paperwork travels with it, and which responsibilities sit at which end. It supplements our Terms of Sale.
Lead times
Lead time depends on the product, the crop position and whether the goods are being processed to your specification. As a working guide, allow two to four weeks from order confirmation to readiness for goods held in regular grades, and longer where cleaning, grading, grinding, blending, sterilisation or custom packing is involved, or where the item is bought at harvest.
Ocean transit adds to that: roughly two to three weeks to the Gulf, three to five weeks to Europe and the Mediterranean, four to six weeks to the east coast of North America, and longer to the west coast and inland destinations. These are indicative and depend on the routing, transhipment and the schedule actually available.
Firm dates are those in the order confirmation. Vessel schedules, equipment availability, port congestion and the issue of regulatory certificates all affect them, and we tell you as soon as we know a date will move.
Packing and loading
Goods are packed in the material and net weight stated in the specification: commonly polypropylene or jute bags with a food-grade liner, multi-wall paper sacks, cartons, or bulk bags, depending on the product. Wooden pallets and wooden packing are heat-treated and marked to ISPM 15.
Containers are inspected before stuffing for cleanliness, odour, holes and previous cargo residue. Where the routing or the season calls for it, container liners, kraft paper, dunnage and desiccants are used to limit moisture migration. Loading is photographed and the seal number recorded against the packing list.
Documents issued as standard
- Commercial invoice
- Packing list, with net and gross weights, unit counts and shipping marks
- Bill of lading, or air waybill for air shipments
- Certificate of analysis for each lot against the agreed specification
- Certificate of origin
- Insurance certificate, where the agreed Incoterms rule places insurance with us
Documents issued when the contract or the destination requires them
- Phytosanitary certificate: issued by India’s plant quarantine authority for consignments of plant origin where the importing country requires one.
- Fumigation or treatment certificate: where the destination requires treatment, or the buyer specifies it.
- Health certificate or export certificate for food products, where the importing authority requires one.
- Preferential certificate of origin under a trade agreement, where the goods qualify and the buyer intends to claim a preferential rate.
- Halal or Kosher certification, arranged with an approved certifying body.
- Non-GMO, non-irradiation, or treatment declarations, and allergen and specification statements for the buyer’s own quality file.
- Third-party inspection certificate, where the buyer has appointed an agency.
Tell us at order confirmation which documents you need, in which name, with which consignee and notify party, and in how many originals. Documents are prepared alongside the goods rather than chased after shipment. But a requirement that surfaces after the vessel sails may be impossible to satisfy, because several of these certificates can only be issued before export.
The regulatory framework
Exporting food commodities from India sits inside a defined framework. Exporters require an Importer-Exporter Code from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade; food business operators require registration or licence under the Food Safety and Standards Act; exporters of spices require registration with the Spices Board under the Spices Board Act, 1986; and consignments of plant origin are certified by the national plant protection organisation where the destination requires it. Scheduled agricultural products fall under APEDA. Our registrations and certifications are set out on our Quality and Compliance page.
Who does what
The Incoterms 2020 rule in the order confirmation allocates the main tasks. In outline, and subject to that rule:
- We produce and pack to specification, test and certify the lot, arrange export customs clearance in India, obtain the export-side certificates, book carriage where the rule places it with us, and present documents.
- You are the importer of record. You obtain any import licence, permit or registration the destination requires, arrange import customs clearance and pay duties and taxes, take delivery within the free time allowed, and arrange onward transport and storage.
Demurrage, detention, storage and port charges arising after the goods arrive are the buyer’s, except where they are caused by a document we were responsible for and failed to provide correctly.
Documents and payment
Where payment is by letter of credit, documents are prepared to the terms of the credit and presented through banking channels. Credits must be workable: describe the goods as they will appear on the invoice, allow a realistic presentation period, and avoid conditions that no party to the shipment can satisfy. We review the draft credit on request before it is opened, which is far cheaper than amending it afterwards.
Where payment is by advance transfer or documents against payment, copies of the documents are sent by email on shipment and originals couriered or released as agreed.
Samples
Representative samples are sent by courier ahead of an order so the buyer can approve against their own standard. Samples are drawn from current stock and are indicative of the material available at that time; the approved sample and the written specification together define what is then shipped.
Questions on a live shipment
Quote the invoice and container numbers and write to sales@orionglobalexports.com, or call the number published on our Contact page. Our export desk answers within one business day.