What is a booking confirmation in shipping?
After the forwarder or shipper requests space, the shipping line, airline or its agent issues the confirmation. It carries the booking number, vessel and voyage or flight, the ports, ETD and ETA, container type and quantity, the depot for empty pick-up, and the cut-offs for cargo, documents and VGM. The booking number is the reference used to release empty containers and to gate full ones into the terminal.
A booking confirmation is not a bill of lading and does not prove that goods were shipped. It only reserves space and equipment; the bill of lading or air waybill is issued once the cargo has been received or loaded. It also differs from the forwarder's own confirmation to the customer, which usually repeats the carrier details together with the agreed rate, the Incoterms rule and the pickup arrangements.
Check every booking confirmation against the request as soon as it arrives: a wrong container type, a different port, a later vessel or a short cut-off is far easier to fix before trucks are dispatched. Carriers can roll or amend bookings when vessels are overbooked, so keep the latest version on file and pass any changed ETD or cut-off to the shipper and the trucker the same day.