Ocean import TMS automation, from pre-alert to filed lot.
TIO sits between your email inbox and your ocean TMS. It reads the booking confirmation, pre-alert, and B/L, pre-fills the lot, tracks deadlines from ETD, and catches vessel rollovers. Your team reviews and approves. Your TMS stays the system of record.
The full ocean import lifecycle, end to end
Ocean import is not one filing. It is six handoffs across three weeks or more, between the origin agent, the carrier, the terminal, the broker, the trucker, and your customer. Every stage has a clock and a party that has to be told something. Miss the relay and the cost lands on the forwarder, not on whoever dropped the email. Here is the whole lane: the window on each stage, the risk that bites, and who has to be informed.
Booking & pre-alert
~2-3 weeks before ETDManufacturer vs. trading company confusion, incomplete ISF data, wrong HTS on intake.
Importer, customs broker, ISF filer of record.
Where TIO actsReads the booking confirmation and pre-alert, binds them to the job, pre-fills shipper, consignee, vessel, ETD, container, and HTS for your team to approve.
Security filing (ISF 10+2)
No later than 24h before load at originLate or amended filing, bonded data that does not match the entry.
Filer of record, broker, importer.
Where TIO actsAssembles the ISF data set from the emails it already read and routes it to the filer. The filer reviews and submits. TIO never files autonomously.
Ocean transit, transshipment & B/L release
~10-35 days, lane and transshipment dependentVessel rollover or a blank sailing, a delay at the transshipment hub, ETA drift across the voyage, and original vs. telex vs. seaway B/L confusion. A surrender that is not tracked stalls release even after the box lands.
Consignee, customs broker, destination agent, drayage provider.
Where TIO actsDetects rollover, blank sailing, and ETA changes from carrier and agent emails and flags the job so nothing downstream plans on stale data. Tracks B/L type and surrender state so the release path is known before the vessel arrives.
Arrival notice, exam & customs release
ETA to availability, ~1-5 daysThe arrival notice starts the last-free-day clock the moment it lands. A CBP exam (VACIS or NII, tailgate, or full intensive), a PGA hold from FDA or USDA, an ISF-to-entry mismatch, or an unpaid arrival notice burns free time before anyone reacts.
Customs broker, consignee, terminal, drayage provider.
Where TIO actsParses the arrival notice, binds it to the job, extracts the last free day, and surfaces customs and PGA release status as the next required action so the free-time clock is never running unseen.
Drayage, delivery & the demurrage/detention clock
Free time, then demurrage and per-diem accrue dailyDemurrage accrues while the box sits at the terminal. Detention and per-diem accrue once it is out and the empty is not returned. Missed terminal appointments, a lapsed last free day, chassis splits and gaps, no dual transaction, and a closed empty-return window all become daily charges the forwarder eats, not the party that dropped the email.
Drayage trucker, terminal, warehouse, consignee, empty-return depot.
Where TIO actsKeeps the demurrage, detention, and per-diem clocks and the next action visible per job so a container does not sit accruing while the release or appointment email waits in an inbox.
Charges, invoice & close
Days after deliveryMissed accessorials, margin leakage, dispute window lapses.
Accounting, the customer.
Where TIO actsAggregates drayage, fees, and agent debit notes into the invoice draft for your team to review.