Container Milestones Definitions

What Are Container Milestones?

Container milestones represent key events in a container’s lifecycle used to track it throughout its journey.

Milestone Definitions by Stage

1. At the Port Of Lading

• Empty Out — means an empty container has left the terminal (at the port of origin — so it goes to the shipper to get filled up)

• Full-In — means a full container has arrived from the shipper to the port of origin

• Vessel Loaded — the full container has been loaded onto the ship.

• Vessel Departed (Estimated Time of Departure — ETD) — The date and time that the vessel leaves the port. This is an estimated milestone until it becomes actual.

2. During the Voyage

• Transshipment Arrived — When cargo or a container is moved from one vessel to another while in transit to its final destination.

• Transshipment Discharged — When a container is unloaded from one vessel and in preparation for loading it onto another vessel which may or may not be the vessel that will reach the discharge port.

• Transshipment Loaded — The act of loading a container from a previous vessel onto another vessel which may or may not be the vessel that will reach the discharge port.

• Transshipment Departed — Transfer of a shipment from one carrier, or more commonly, from one vessel to another while in transit.

3. At the Port Of Discharge

• Vessel Arrived (Estimated Time of Arrival — ETA) — Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) is when a ship or vessel is expected to arrive at a specific destination.

• Vessel Berthed — it means that it has reached its intended destination and is securely tied up or anchored to the designated berth or mooring point.

• Vessel Discharged — Where a vessel is off-loaded and cargo discharged.

• Not Available — container has not been cleared of holds and not available for pick up yet

• Available — container has been cleared of holds and available for pick up.

• Full-Out — This means a full container leaves the terminal. This occurs at the destination.

• Empty Returned — Occurs after the shipper has received the goods and returned an empty container to the terminal, at the destination port.

4. On Intermodal Rail to the Inland Destination

• Rail Loaded — container is fully loaded onto a railcar for transportation.

• Rail Departed — departure of a loaded railcar from the port of discharge.

• Rail Arrived — the arrival of a railcar at its final destination.

• Rail Unloaded — container has been unloaded from a railcar upon its arrival at the destination.

• Not Available — container has not been cleared of holds and not available for pick up yet.

• Available — container has been cleared of holds and available for pick up.

• Full Out — a full container leaves the inland destination terminal and heads to the warehouse.

• Empty Returned — occurs after the shipper has received the goods and returned an empty container to the terminal.

You can view all milestones from different sources for your containers in the All Events Tab on the shipment's page.

Please refer to this article for more information about unified events view in the 'All Events' Tab.

Note: Intermodal Rail milestones are available with Terminal49's Rail Visibility add-on. Should you wish to make the rail data available to your account, please reach out to support@terminal49.com.

See next article: Container Statuses and Their Definitions