Creating an Ocean Export job
To create a new export job, you can either:
- Select File > New > Job from the main Sequoia toolbar at the top of the screen, or
- Right click any of the road, ocean or air lists in the export module and select New from the context menu.
This will display the New Job dialog.
First, specify the type of job you are creating - Air, Ocean or Road - by clicking one of the icons (as shown below).
If you select this from the main Sequoia toolbar then the job icons you see on the dialog will include those for imports. If you right click on the export job lists, then you will only see the export (air, road and ocean) job icons.
Fill in the information in the boxes as detailed in the table below.
| Label | Information required |
|---|---|
| Reference | Enter the job reference here. You can configure Sequoia to automatically generate job references for you. If you have done that then you can leave the reference blank here and the next reference will be automatically assigned once you create the job. |
| Customer | You must specify the customer for each job in Sequoia. You can enter either the shortcode, name or EORI (TIN) number to identify them, or enter a question mark [?] to search. |
| Relationships | Sequoia will remember relationships for a customer - i.e. where you have previously created jobs specifying the same consignor and consignee. You can click the  to the right of this box to display a list of previously used relationships. Alternatively you can key in the details (the shortcode) of each party or leave them blank and fill them in later. |
The job editor
Once you have filled in the correct information, click [OK] to create the job. This will then display the job editor form.
| Label | Information required |
|---|---|
| Customer | The details of the customer specified when the job was created. |
| Consignor | The name and address and EORI (if present) will automatically be mapped to the Consignor [box 02] of the declaration. |
| Consignee | The name, address and EORI (if present) will automatically be mapped to the Consignee [box 08] of the declaration. |
| Goods Description | A description of the goods being exported. This will be mapped to the Goods Description [box 31] of the 1st declaration item. |
| Origin | The origin (UN/LOCODE) of where the goods are moving from. The declaration Dispatch Country [box 15a] will be derived from this location. |
| Destination | The destination (UN/LOCODE) of where the goods are moving to. |
| Packages | The number of packages in the consignment - this will be mapped to Total Packages [box 06] of the declaration. |
| Gross Weight | The gross weight of the consignment. |
| CT Status | You can enter the status manually or click the to the right of this box to display a list of valid CT statuses. |
Creating a Shipment record
In Sequoia, a Shipment is the equivalent of the transport document; it can be at house or master level. So for an ocean export this would represent a groupage load (house) or a full load (master).
A shipment can contain one or more jobs - where for instance you are being asked to ship goods from more than one consignor on the same load. It is however more common to have one job with one shipment.
To create a shipment record, click the New Shipment task. This will display the shipment editor, as shown below.
As you can see, some of the information from the job (origin, destination etc.) has copied onto the shipment.
| Label | Information required |
|---|---|
| Category | Select either House or Master. You can type [H] or [M] or click the to the right of the box to choose from the list. |
| Master | Enter the reference of the master transport bill of lading here. This will automatically be mapped as a previous document [box 40] of the declaration. |
| House | If this is part of a groupage load, enter the reference of the 'house' bill of lading here. This will automatically be mapped as a previous document [box 40] of the declaration. |
| Carrier | Enter the carrier code, if known. |
| Vessel | Enter the name of the vessel, if known. |
| Voyage | Enter the voyage number, if known. |
| Date | Enter the shipment date. You can type it in (in the format DD/MM/CCYY) or click the to the right of the box to choose from the calendar. |
| MUCR | If this shipment will consist of goods that are covered by more than one export declaration, you can specify a MUCR (Master UCR) to which all of the DUCRs will be associated. In that way you only have to give the MUCR to the carrier when booking the goods. |
| Consignor + Consignee | These copy from the job that you created. However they can be changed here without affecting the job. It may be that the shipment is being addressed to a third party agent for instance. Origin, destination, packages, weight and description can also be amended here without affecting the job record. |
| Container numbers | Enter container numbers, if the goods are containerised and the number(s) are known. These will automatically be mapped as containers [box 31] of the declaration. |
Once you have input all of the information, click [Save] at the top of the shipment editor toolbar and then close the form by clicking X at the top right of the form.
This will then return you to the job editor, where you will see the shipment details summarised on the shipment task as highlighted below.
Creating a Declaration
To create a customs declaration for this job, click Declaration on the Customs Action task (below the Shipment task).
This will display the New Declaration dialog (shown below) where you can choose the type of declaration you wish to create.
Select the appropriate type of declaration by highlighting it on the list and clicking [Create]. The export declaration editor will then display.
As you can see from the example above, information from the job and the shipment has been completed automatically. Complete the rest of the declaration with the required data.
You should refer to the guidance from the UK Trade Tariff: volume 3 for CHIEF for more information on the requirements.
Once you have completed all of the required information, click [Send] on the toolbar at the top left of the declaration editor.
This will transmit the declaration to CHIEF and close the declaration editor.
The customs action task on the job editor will update to reflect the current status of the declaration as it is processed by customs (as shown above).
Adding more tasks
A job may require multiple declarations. This could be due to the nature of the goods being exported meaning the maximum number of declaration items (99) is exceeded or because the goods are being exported under simplified procedures - the job could require one or more supplementary declarations.
If additional declarations are required, add a new Customs Action task by clicking the New button at the top of the tasks window and choose Customs Action Task (as shown below).
Finalising a Shipment
Once all of the information has been input to the job and shipment records and all of the tasks have been completed, it is important to finalise the shipment.
Finalising a shipment serves a number of important purposes:
- It acts as a visual check that everything you need to do has been done
- It prevents further changes being made to the shipment - although this can be overridden later if necessary.
- If you have specified a MUCR on the shipment record, then Sequoia will automatically associate the DUCRs of jobs linked to the shipment to the MUCR you have specified.
- Sequoia will also 'shut' the MUCR, if you have specified one.
- After a specified time (normally 30 days) finalised shipments will no longer appear on the list of shipments in the exports module. If all the tasks on a job - including the shipment task - have been completed/finalised then the job will also not appear on the job list after that period.
To finalise the shipment, open the Shipment record by double clicking the Shipment task on the job. You can also click the reference link (as highlighted below) in the Shipment task.
Once the Shipment editor is displayed, click [Finalise] on the toolbar at the top of the editor.
A dialog will appear, advising you that this will prevent any further changes to the shipment and asking you to confirm you wish to continue. If you click [Yes] then the Finalise Shipment dialog will display - as shown below.
The rest of the information is not required and will be removed from the dialog in due course.
Once you have completed the date, click [Finalise].
The Shipment task status will change to Finalisation in Progress - as highlighted below.
Once all of the DUCRs have been associated to the MUCR, and confirmation received from CHIEF that the MUCR has been 'shut', the status of the shipment will change to Shipment finalised.
Unfinalising a Shipment
As described above, finalising a shipment prevents any changes being made to it.
If for some reason this has been done in error, you can reverse the process.
However, it will allow you to make any changes you require and, if you add any more goods to the shipment, when you re-finalise it will associate any further DUCRs to the MUCR.
To unfinalise the Shipment, open the Shipment record by double clicking the Shipment task on the job. You can also click the reference link (as highlighted below) in the Shipment task.
Once the Shipment editor is displayed, click [Unfinalise] on the toolbar at the top of the editor.
When you have made any necessary changes to the shipment, you should follow the instructions above to finalise it again.