Pre-Receival Advice (PRA) is what an exporter sends to a container terminal operator CTO), informing them latter about an export consignment ready for dispatch to the terminal. It may sound a simple communication, but involves a definite process that must be followed carefully. Any error or anomaly in it may cause loss of time and efforts to the exporter. Here in an overview of all the steps involved that you must understand if you are a first time exporter.
Before beginning, it is important to mention that electronic PRA is what most of the exporters use these days. The traditional process of manual PRA consumes a lot of time which may ultimately cause unnecessary delays and frustration.
CTO Receives Booking Message from Shipping Line
Once an exporter books a shipping line service to export his or her consignments, the shipping line sends what can be called the booking message to the container terminal operator. The message provides important details about the consignment/containers, including:
- Shipping line
- Vessel number
- Booking reference number
- Lloyd’s number
- Voyage number
- Port of discharge
- Final destination
- Number of containers
- Type of containers
- Type of commodity
- Out of Gauge (OOG) for oversized containers/commodities
- Dangerous Goods (DG) information
- Reefer (refrigerated) container information
Stevedore Receives PRA from Exporter
The exporter sends PRA to the stevedore using one of the prescribed modes/methods. If the exporter has assigned the task to an agent, the latter is responsible to send PRA to stevedore. The PRA contains all important details about the consignment and/or containers that serve many purposes, including:
- Validating the information against that provided by the shipping line booking messages
- Confirming that the data meets the system requirements of the stevedore
Some of the mandatory details that the exporter or agent must include in the PRA are:
- Shippers reference number
- Booking reference number
- Lloyd’s number
- Voyage number
- Shipping line
- Port of loading
- Loading terminal
- Port of discharge
- Container number
- Commodity
- Gross weight
- Container ISO code
- Arrival mode of transport
In addition, the following details are optional:
- Origin
- Vessel name
- Final discharge port
- Vent setting in case of goods that need to be in reefer containers
Also, there are some details which must be provided in case the containers contain specific types of goods. These include:
- Seal number and seal identifier
- Dangerous goods UN number
- Dangerous goods class
- Control temperature in case of reefer containers etc.
Response from CTO
- In case all the details are validated successfully, an acceptance message is sent to the exporter or agent.
- In case there are some errors, the export or the agent is asked to resubmit the PRA. In some cases, there are minor mistakes that can be easily rectified, while in others, the exporter or agent might need to update the booking data with the shipping line.
After the acceptance message is received by the exporter or agent, the cargo is sent to the wharf.
Export Documentation Software 