The 7 Documents Every Import Consignment Needs at Chattogram Port

In our experience clearing thousands of consignments through Chattogram Custom House, the single biggest cause of delay is not customs — it is documents that do not agree with each other. A spelling difference between the invoice and the LC, a missing endorsement on the Bill of Lading, an insurance cover note dated after shipment: each of these can hold a container for days.

The Standard Set

1. LC copy & LCA Form — the baseline every other document must match.
2. Commercial Invoice & Packing List — description, quantity, unit price and Incoterms must mirror the LC wording exactly.
3. Bill of Lading (endorsed) — check the notify party, freight clause, and bank endorsement before the original reaches you.
4. Certificate of Origin — required for preferential duty claims and many regulatory approvals.
5. Insurance Cover Note & Money Receipt — dated on or before shipment.
6. IRC, BIN/VAT & TIN certificates — must be current; expired IRC is a common show-stopper.
7. Product-specific papers — MSDS for chemicals, catalogues for machinery, test reports where BSTI or DoE clearance applies.

Our Advice

Send your C&F agent the draft documents before the supplier ships — not after the vessel berths. A thirty-minute pre-arrival review costs nothing and routinely saves a week of port rent and demurrage. That is exactly what step one of our 7-step clearance cycle exists for.