You’ve probably experienced some version of this: A shipment leaves your dock looking perfect, every box checked, and then somewhere between here and there, a paperwork issue nobody caught brings everything to a halt. Just like that, you’re burning money on port fees, apologizing to a customer who needed that freight last week, and wondering why your team keeps tripping over the same problems.

You’re not the only one.

Breakdowns like these drain an estimated $30 billion from shippers worldwide every year, and the root cause is rarely bad luck or incompetent people. It’s the lack of a repeatable process that spells out exactly how international shipments should move from quote to delivery.

That’s what a shipping SOP solves: a single, transparent process for handling documentation, cutoffs, approvals, and partner communication so minor issues stop snowballing into expensive problems.

The five steps ahead will help you build one that fits the way your operation runs day to day.

Step 1: Standardize and Audit All Documentation
Documentation errors top the list of avoidable shipping delays. A single missing form or wrong data entry can hold your cargo at customs or bump your container off the vessel entirely.

So, start your shipping SOP with the documents that cause the most problems: commercial invoices, bills of lading, HS codes, and Incoterms. Product descriptions, weights, values, and codes need to match across every piece of paperwork. When an invoice doesn’t align with the bill of lading, customs agents notice.

Then build a predeparture audit into your process. Review consignee details, verify HS codes, and confirm all required certificates before freight leaves your facility. Catching errors at this stage gives you time to fix them.

Additionally, filing deadlines deserve the same attention. Late or incomplete AMS and EEI submissions can roll your shipment and trigger fines up to $10,000 per violation. That’s why you should build compliance checks into your shipping SOP so filings wrap up well before cutoffs.

Step 2: Establish Clear Cutoff Times and Lead Times
Even perfect documentation won’t save a shipment that misses its cutoff. Ocean carriers and airlines run tight schedules, and late cargo gets rolled to the next vessel. That delay could stretch days or weeks and bring roll fees between $300 and $1,500 per container, plus demurrage charges of $150 to $400 per day.

Your shipping SOP should map out every cutoff on your routes: document submission, container yard, and cargo receiving. Then set internal deadlines that beat those external cutoffs by a comfortable margin. If the port requires documents three days before departure, make your team’s deadline five days out. That buffer gives your team room to handle last-minute changes and still hit the hard deadline.

Bring your partners into the loop too. Suppliers, warehouse teams, and carriers all need clear timing expectations, and those deadlines belong in your contracts and service agreements. Confirm bookings and drayage appointments ahead of the cutoff day so nothing slips.

Step 3: Implement Approval Workflows and Compliance Gates
Firm timelines and clean documentation will carry your shipments far, but exceptions will still find you. Containers come in overweight, customers request last-minute reroutes, and hazardous materials get flagged right before departure. Your shipping SOP needs to spell out who owns these calls and how quickly decisions get made.

An approval matrix helps here. Define primary and backup approvers for the scenarios that come up most often, so your team knows exactly who to reach when a cutoff is bearing down.

The same structure applies to compliance. Global shipments run through customs regulations, export controls, and hazmat rules, so your SOP should include review steps where a broker or compliance officer signs off on paperwork before submission.

The caveat, though, is that all of this only works when every approval has a name attached. Who signs export documents? Who authorizes expedited freight spend? Your freight forwarder can flag the permits and licenses you need, but your shipping SOP should leave no question about who owns each sign-off on your end.

Step 4: Establish Communication Protocols and Stakeholder Updates
A solid process means little if the people involved aren’t talking to each other. Your shipping SOP should define who gets notified at each milestone, from booking confirmation through final delivery, and how those updates go out.

Start with a contact list that covers every key role: operations manager, customs broker, carrier rep, warehouse supervisor. Include backup contacts for each, so a sick day or missed call doesn’t stall decisions. When your team knows exactly who to reach and when, they spend less time chasing answers and more time moving freight.

Build a culture around early communication too. Delays, port congestion, supplier issues: These problems get easier to solve when people flag them fast. Waiting until a shipment misses its window costs everyone more time and money. So prioritize supply chain visibility and making proactive updates the default, not the exception.

Step 5: Monitor, Improve, and Leverage Technology
The first four steps get you most of the way there. But a shipping SOP only works if you keep coming back to it and treat it as a living, breathing document.

After each peak season, sit down with your team and talk through what went well and where things broke down. Update the document when you switch carriers, add new products, or lose the one person who knew how to handle a specific customs requirement. An SOP that reflects how your operation ran six months ago will start causing confusion instead of preventing it.

Pay attention to your numbers as well, such as on-time percentages, documentation errors, and dwell time. These tell you where the process is holding up and where it’s leaking money. When a shipment goes wrong, figure out whether the SOP let you down or whether someone worked around it.

Technology can help tie this together. A centralized platform where your team, freight forwarder, and warehouse all access the same documents and shipment data cuts down on the back-and-forth that unnecessarily wastes time.

Skip the Drama, Ship the Freight
Global shipping will never be a walk in the park, and things will always happen beyond your control. But a shipping SOP that accounts for documentation, timing, approvals, and communication puts you in a position to absorb those hits without losing your mind or your margins. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s building a process sturdy enough that problems stay small and your team knows how to handle them before they escalate.

Mallory Alexander has spent over a century helping shippers across industries, from lumber and cotton to electronics and medical supplies, move freight drama-free. We pair old-school logistics know-how with tools like our myMALLORY™ portal to keep documentation tight, compliance on track, and visibility where it should be. No matter if you need help building a shipping SOP from scratch or want a partner who already operates that way, we’re happy to talk.

Contact us and let’s figure out how to get your freight moving with a lot less drama.