What is a cargo cut-off in shipping?
The carrier states the cut-off on the booking confirmation, often as the CY (container yard) cut-off for full containers. It is usually one or more days before the vessel's ETD, depending on the terminal and the line. A container that gates in after the cut-off is normally rolled to the next sailing, and the terminal may charge storage while it waits.
Cargo cut-off is only one of several deadlines on a booking. The documentation or SI (shipping instruction) cut-off is the deadline for bill of lading details, the VGM cut-off is for the verified gross mass, and dangerous goods or reefer bookings often have earlier cut-offs of their own. Missing any one of them can keep a container off the vessel even when it is already inside the terminal.
In practice, plan backward from the cut-off, not from ETD: allow time for loading at the factory, export trucking, export customs clearance and the terminal's gate hours. Air freight works the same way, with a latest acceptance time at the airline's warehouse. Cut-offs move when a vessel's schedule changes, so recheck them against the carrier's latest notice a day or two before the truck is dispatched.