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Shipping goods from several suppliers together: consolidation warehouse, shipping marks and paperwork
When buying from several factories or vendors, how to gather the goods in one warehouse, check them in, unify the paperwork and ship them as one consolidated load.
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To ship goods from several suppliers together, designate one consolidation warehouse, give every supplier the same shipping marks and delivery instructions, have the warehouse check in each supplier's goods, and finally combine everything into one invoice and packing list for a single export declaration and shipment.
Information updated: 2026-10-03
Steps
- Confirm the consolidation warehouse address and receiving hours and send them to all suppliers.
- Unify shipping marks: consignee code, destination, carton number; every supplier applies them in the same format.
- Each supplier sends a delivery note with the goods stating description, pieces and weight.
- At check-in the warehouse counts, weighs and measures each supplier's goods and reports any discrepancy promptly.
- Once everything has arrived, combine it into one commercial invoice and packing list and declare it together.
Where it usually goes wrong
- One supplier keeps delaying delivery and holds up the whole container: set one cut-off date for all suppliers.
- Cartons have no shipping marks and can't be told apart after check-in: ask suppliers to send photos for confirmation before delivery.
- Inconsistent descriptions: the same item is named differently on different delivery notes, so standardise them when combining.
Give your forwarder each supplier's contact and delivery note in advance, so check-in problems can be sorted out with the supplier directly instead of everything going through you.