Airwaybill
Also known as: AWB, air waybill
An airwaybill (AWB) is the transport document for air freight. It identifies the consignment at airline and handling agent, but it is not leading for the customs value. That is the invoice.
What is an airwaybill?
An airwaybill is the transport document of air freight, the counterpart of the bill of lading on sea freight. In Dutch it is a luchtvrachtbrief, in the file an AWB. It is the contract between shipper and carrier, the receipt for the goods, and the number with which the consignment is called at the cargo terminal. Unlike a bill of lading the AWB is not a document of title. It does not pass ownership. Who may collect the goods follows from the consignee on the AWB and from the airline's instruction, not from physically holding an original. There is no set of three originals you have to split. For customs the AWB is an identifying document, not a value document. The invoice is leading for goods code, customs value and origin. An AWB with a description of goods or consolidated cargo is usable to find the consignment, not to fill the IMA.
How is an AWB number built up?
A standard IATA airwaybill has eleven digits: a three-digit prefix for the airline, a seven-digit serial number, and a check digit. The prefix identifies the carrier. The serial number identifies the consignment at that carrier. The check digit catches typing errors. That number is the key at the cargo terminal, in the airline's track and trace, and in the link to the declaration. Like an MRN it identifies a document, not necessarily one package. An AWB can cover dozens of packages. A shipment can consist of several AWBs if the cargo has been split. Type the number over with the check digit. An AWB that misses one digit produces a consignment at the terminal that does not exist. The declaration can then still have an MRN, but the handling agent lets nothing leave without a number that occurs in their system.
What is the difference between MAWB and HAWB?
The MAWB, master airwaybill, is the contract between the airline and the forwarder. The HAWB, house airwaybill, is the contract between the forwarder and the shipper. On consolidation several HAWBs sit under one MAWB, each an own consignment with own consignee, own invoice and own declaration. For customs the HAWB is often the relevant identity of the consignment, because the real consignee and the real goods stand on it. The MAWB brings the consolidation onto the cargo terminal. The IMA follows the house, not the master, unless it is a straight AWB without a house under it. Do not mix the numbers in the chain. A T1 or an IMA that carries the MAWB number while the customer thinks in HAWBs produces getting lost at the handling agent. Put both numbers in the file. Report outwards the number the receiver of the goods knows.
What from the AWB do you put in the declaration?
The AWB number as transport document, the airline or the handling agent as carrier, the airport of departure and of arrival, the number of packages and the gross weight insofar as that matches the packing list. The goods description on the AWB is usually too coarse for the article lines. You take those from the invoice. Check weight and packages against the packing list and the invoice. Differences are a standard reason for a document check. The AWB weighs what the airline took in. The invoice counts what the seller sold. A difference of a pallet or of tens of kilos you must be able to explain before DMS or customs asks about it. The AWB is not a proof of origin and not a value document. An amount on the AWB is freight, not the customs value. Add that freight into the customs value to the external border if the Incoterm asks for it, but do not replace the invoice value with it.
How does the AWB hang on ETA, T1 and import?
The AWB carries the flight and with it the ETA. You time the pre-notification and the preparation of the IMA on that ETA. The ATA of the flight is the moment the consignment becomes available at the cargo terminal and the moment T1 or IMA may be shot in. Without AWB status you have no reliable clock. Air freight that continues inland under T1 gets a T1 that refers to the AWB as previous transport document. The lossingsvergunning and the discharge then run via the MRN of the T1, not via the AWB number. The AWB number remains needed to identify the consignment at the cargo terminal. On direct clearance at the airport the AWB is the key to the handling agent, and the MRN is the key to customs. Both must match before the consignment may leave the cargo terminal. A released IMA without an AWB match at the agent is green internally and red at the belt.
What goes wrong with airwaybills?
The wrong number in the declaration is the first mistake. HAWB and MAWB mixed, a prefix of the wrong airline, or a number without a check digit. The handling agent does not find the consignment, or finds the consolidation instead of the house. Customs finds a document that does not match the invoice. The second mistake is using the AWB as classification. Consolidated cargo, parts or perishables on the AWB says nothing about the TARIC code. Anyone who fills the article line with that gets a control order or a wrong rate. The invoice and the packing list are the source. The AWB is the envelope. The third mistake is an AWB without an update. The consignment has been rolled to a next flight, the ETA has shifted, and the file still runs on the original AWB status. CLIENT PD, truck and IMA stand ready for an arrival that does not come. Follow the AWB status until the ATA is there, just as you follow a container in Portbase.