Docket is the AI trade desk for import–export traders. Contracts in, follow-through automatic: suppliers chased, documents prepared, payments on calendar, position always known.https://dodocket.comen© 2026 DocketBalkrishna AgarwalFri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://dodocket.com/favicon.svghttps://dodocket.com/https://dodocket.com/blog/what-a-demurrage-spreadsheet-cannot-holdhttps://dodocket.com/blog/what-a-demurrage-spreadsheet-cannot-holdA free-time spreadsheet stores one number per lane. The published tariffs at Nhava Sheva and Jebel Ali charge by terminal, by day band, by container size, by cargo class, in a currency converted on the vessel's arrival date, under an edition that re-indexes every year. Six variables, one cell. A tool that stores one number per lane has only moved the spreadsheet.Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTdemurragedetentionsoftwareportsimportBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/demurrage-software-counts-one-clock-ports-have-twohttps://dodocket.com/blog/demurrage-software-counts-one-clock-ports-have-twoSoftware sold as demurrage and detention software counts the carrier's free time and shows one last free day. An import container usually runs a second clock too: the terminal's own storage tariff, published, and not counted the same way. Jebel Ali gives 10 free days from discharge; NSICT at Nhava Sheva gives 3 from the day after landing, excluding customs holidays. Both are DP World terminals.Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTdemurragedetentionsoftwareportsimportBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/uae-12-digit-hs-codes-dubai-import-declarationhttps://dodocket.com/blog/uae-12-digit-hs-codes-dubai-import-declarationFrom August 2026 to January 2027 Dubai Customs is mandating twelve-digit classification for all imports to the mainland from outside the GCC. In its correlation table, 7,911 eight-digit lines become 13,449: 1,942 split, and 305 change their eight-digit stem. No split changes the duty rate. What changes is the product detail the declaration needs, and somebody has to get that from the supplier.Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThs-codeuaedubaicustomsimportBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/landed-cost-tools-for-an-import-deskhttps://dodocket.com/blog/landed-cost-tools-for-an-import-deskThree kinds of software answer to the words landed cost. Allocation modules inside an ERP spread a container total across SKUs. Trade-compliance suites price the duty term from rate data. Evidence capture collects the invoiced charges as they arrive and matches each to a shipment. The first two start from a number somebody already has, and the vendor pages say so in their own words.Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTlanded costsoftwareimportfinancetoolsBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/how-to-choose-demurrage-and-detention-softwarehttps://dodocket.com/blog/how-to-choose-demurrage-and-detention-softwareFour products sell as demurrage and detention software and the demo rarely says which one you are in. Six questions separate them: which clock it moves, whether it chases or alerts, where its last free day comes from, whether it can produce the lines a US demurrage invoice must carry by law, and what it costs against a week of demurrage on one container, which has cost US$12,000.Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTdemurragedetentionsoftwarebuyingimportBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/how-to-dispute-a-demurrage-invoicehttps://dodocket.com/blog/how-to-dispute-a-demurrage-invoiceDisputing a demurrage invoice turns on who is billing you, whether the bill is valid where you trade, and whose days it covers. In US trades the FMC's billing rule sets 30 days to invoice and 30 to contest. In India a detention certificate covers days Customs held the goods. Elsewhere it is contract. Everywhere, days lost to a late document pack are yours, which is why most disputes fail.Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTdemurragedetentioncustomsimportBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/landed-cost-software-per-container-then-per-skuhttps://dodocket.com/blog/landed-cost-software-per-container-then-per-skuLanded cost software comes in two kinds. The ERP kind allocates a container's charges across SKUs by value, weight or quantity, so stock is valued and margin per product is known. The import-desk kind collects those charges from the six parties who email them and matches each to the container with evidence. The ERP kind cannot start until the desk kind has finished.Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTlanded costsoftwareimportfinancetoolsBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/demurrage-and-detention-software-what-each-kind-doeshttps://dodocket.com/blog/demurrage-and-detention-software-what-each-kind-doesFour products sell as demurrage and detention software: container visibility with free-time alerts, invoice audit and dispute tools, laytime claims software for chartered vessels, and document-chase software that finishes the pack inside free time. The first three act after the clock has started. Packs run about eight days late; a week of demurrage on one container has cost US$12,000.Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTdemurragedetentionsoftwareimporttoolsBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/food-import-points-of-entry-indiahttps://dodocket.com/blog/food-import-points-of-entry-indiaImported food is cleared in India only at points of entry where FSSAI has notified an authorised officer. After CBIC Instruction 04/2026 of 20 April 2026 there are 171 of them: 28 seaports, 19 airports, 89 ICDs and SEZs, 35 land customs stations. The list is set by notification and grows a few at a time, so the port on your booking is a document check, not a logistics preference.Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTfoodFSSAIimportdocumentsportsBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/replacing-excel-for-import-trackinghttps://dodocket.com/blog/replacing-excel-for-import-trackingExcel does not break because it is Excel. It breaks when the number of open shipments passes what one person can hold in their head, because a spreadsheet records status and cannot go and get it. Tracking and reporting alone costs 20–30 minutes per container. Replace the chasing first, and the file second.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTtrackingexcelimporttoolsBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/import-document-checklist-that-actually-holdshttps://dodocket.com/blog/import-document-checklist-that-actually-holdsA document checklist that only names documents will not save you. Packs fail on fields that disagree across pages: weight, description, party name, quantity. Check eight fields across the whole pack instead of ticking eight documents. Doc-pack prep and checking runs 45–90 minutes per container, and one payment-diversion attempt on a single shipment was worth US$62,500.Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTdocumentsimportchecklistfraudBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/exporter-not-sending-shipping-documentshttps://dodocket.com/blog/exporter-not-sending-shipping-documentsA supplier goes quiet because your follow-up has no schedule and no consequence. Fix it with a timer, not a tone: email today, WhatsApp at 24 hours, SMS at 48, a phone call at 72. Chasing suppliers costs 30–45 minutes per container, and it is the single largest recoverable block of desk time.Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTsuppliersdocumentsimportescalationBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/six-parties-one-container-who-owns-the-follow-uphttps://dodocket.com/blog/six-parties-one-container-who-owns-the-follow-upSix parties touch one container and each owns a task. Nobody owns the handover between tasks, so the coordination falls on the importer's documentation desk by default. That unowned work is about 2.2 hours per container, or roughly 1,100 hours a month on a 500-container desk against 1,232 hours of capacity.Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTcoordinationimportops-costprocessBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/why-am-i-paying-demurragehttps://dodocket.com/blog/why-am-i-paying-demurrageYou pay demurrage because two clocks run against every container and neither one is the ship. Port free time starts the hour the box is discharged. Your document pack starts when the supplier answers. Paperwork routinely runs about 8 days behind, and one week of demurrage on one container costs about US$12,000.Thu, 23 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTdemurrageimportdocumentsops-costBalkrishna Agarwalhttps://dodocket.com/blog/how-much-desk-time-a-container-really-takeshttps://dodocket.com/blog/how-much-desk-time-a-container-really-takesOne container takes about 2.2 hours of desk work: 30–45 min chasing the supplier, 45–90 min on the document pack, 20–30 min tracking, 10–15 min on payments. At 500 containers a month that is roughly 1,100 hours against a seven-person desk's 1,232, so about 90% of the team is consumed before anyone trades.Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTops-costcapacityimportmeasurementBalkrishna Agarwal