Shipping and Trade

Document checks before customs, not at customs

A trading house moving 180 containers a month through Jebel Ali checked invoices and bills of lading by eye. The exception desk cross-checks every document before filing and holds anything that does not match, with the reason attached.

IndustryCommodity trading
Profile180 containers a month
SystemsOutlook, SharePoint, Odoo, sanctions lists
Target timeline4 weeks to review mode
The situation

Where the work was stuck.

Mismatched HS codes and consignee names surfaced at the port, where every day of delay meant demurrage and an unhappy buyer.

Market reports from brokers arrived as PDFs every morning and were read, if at all, by whoever had time.

Mismatches found at customs, not before
Demurrage on held containers
Broker reports unread most mornings
What gets installed

Three agents, one desk.

  1. Trade Compliance Checker

    Extracts every line from invoices, packing lists and BLs and cross-checks codes, names and values.

    Built from: Document Intelligence, Checks and Compliance
  2. Exception Desk

    Holds any mismatch or sanctions hit with the reason, and routes it to the right person to release.

    Built from: Checks and Compliance, Ops Autopilot
  3. Market Briefing Agent

    Turns the morning's broker PDFs into one briefing with fixtures and rates in a table.

    Built from: Document Intelligence, Company Memory
Where it stops

The boundaries, in writing.

Every action sits in one of three columns before the build starts. Actions move left only after a clean record in review mode.

Runs alone
  • Extraction and cross-checks
  • Sanctions screening
  • The morning briefing
Waits for approval
  • Releasing a held shipment
  • Exception notices to suppliers
Never
  • Filing a declaration
  • Clearing a sanctions hit
In production

What the team sees each day.

The same view the owner opens every morning: what ran, what it handled alone, and what is waiting on a decision.

Exception desk, liveSample data
Trading house, Jebel AliReview mode
OutlookSharePointOdooSanctions lists
174
Shipments checked this month
11Held with a reason
07:30Brief sent, GST
0Declarations filed
  • ExtractedInvoice 2291, 14 lines, packing list matched
  • CheckedHS codes against invoice descriptions
  • HeldBL 4471: consignee name differs from invoice
  • BriefedFreight and fixture moves in the morning note
Holds arrive with the reason attached. A person releases them.
Targets in the scope

What this install commits to.

100%Shipments checked before filing
07:30Morning briefing, GST
0Declarations filed by the agent
1Reason attached to every hold

Figures on this page are illustrative targets. Real targets come from your own baseline during mapping.

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