Prepare your shipment

Here’s what you should know once you’ve created and submitted your inbound order: 

• Initial email: Walmart’s origin agent will email the shipper for your order within two business days. This includes 1 business day for compliance checks and 1 business day to allow Walmart’s origin agent to contact the shipper and review timelines. The Walmart origin operation agent will contact you to verify and confirm the schedule of the vessel assigned to your inbound order. 

• Review other info: Walmart’s origin agent will review and confirm your Cargo ready date and related inbound order details such as Shipping instructions cut-offs and Estimated departure date. 

• House bill of lading: We'll provide the House bill of lading (HBL) draft within 1 business day after you or your shipper provide shipping instructions. The final HBL will be shared within 1 business day after vessel departure. 

• Arrival Notice: We'll email an Arrival Notice to notify parties about 5 days before the vessel’s Estimated time of arrival (ETA). 

• Import customs clearance: Arrange for customs clearance at the first port of discharge in the US. This must be done whether you're using Walmart’s designated customs broker or another customs broker to file entry. Our Arrival Notice will provide your customs broker with the necessary FIRMS code. 

Once we assign a vessel to your booking, the schedule will appear on the Tracking tab of your booking in Seller Center. Navigate to Shipping Plans > International tab, then select the 3 dot menu next to the booking and select Tracking. At the same time, Walmart will email the vessel schedule with the Estimated departure date and Estimated arrival to the Notify party (usually the import customs broker) and the consignee email addresses you added during booking.

LCL shipments:

Review the Less than container load (LCL) guide for more details on preparing your LCL shipments and delivering them to the origin consolidation warehouse (aka Container Freight Station - CFS).

Ocean freight insurance

Ocean freight insurance, also known as marine cargo insurance, covers loss or damage to your shipment during transportation. It’s a common best practice to insure shipments. We do not currently provide cargo insurance for your shipments; you are responsible for purchasing insurance for your shipments.

Container condition and loading guidelines

To learn more about container condition and loading requirements, review the FCL container loading guidelines guide.

Labeling 

You can print carton labels on the Booking details tab of your booking in Seller Center as soon as you submit your booking.  Select the container (if your shipment has multiple containers) and the label size you prefer. If you have over 1000 cartons, label generation can take up to 5 minutes. 

Documentation 

If you choose Walmart’s designated customs broker for your shipments, you’ll need to upload customs clearance documentation (commercial invoice, packing list and any other required documentation based on the products in your order) to the relevant shipment page in Seller Center. They’ll access your documentation directly from Walmart, so you don’t need to initiate another communication to complete customs clearance. 

All files should be PDF and should not contain spaces in the file name. The file size limit is 5MB. 

In addition to uploading clearance documents in the Documents tab, you can also access documents created by WMSC Logistics Services, LLC over the course of your shipments. These include the NRA, house bill of lading and other shipment documents. 

Cambodia

Walmart Imports supports FCL shipments from Cambodia via the Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam origin port. 

Cambodian service via Vietnam is more efficient, with more sailings and faster routes, and more cost-effective, with lower ocean freight rates from Vietnam vs. sailing directly from a Cambodian port. 

How to arrange a Cambodian Walmart Imports shipment:

1. Place an FCL booking in Seller Center, selecting Ho Chi Minh City as the origin port.

1. You’ll see the dual UN/LOCODE VNSGN/VNVUT next to Ho Chi Minh City in Seller Center. Due to Vietnam customs policies, shipments from Cambodia via Vietnam will pick up empty containers from Ho Chi Minh (VNSGN) and return them laden directly to the Vung Tau deep-water port (VNVUT).

2. As with any Walmart Imports booking, the origin agent will email you a confirmation after you place your booking.

3. Confirm the booking details and reply promptly to that email to let the origin agent know your cargo will originate in Cambodia.

4. The origin agent will release the ocean carrier booking to you so that you can interact directly with the carrier for the next steps.

5. You must arrange pickup and transport of the empty container from Ho Chi Minh City to your factory or warehouse in Cambodia.

6. You must deliver your filled container back to the Vung Tau loading port, as indicated in the ocean carrier booking, and coordinate all cross-border clearance from Cambodia to Vietnam. The origin agent and Seller Support do not provide any export customs support from Cambodia.

7. Upon arrival at the Vung Tau port, the shipping process is the same as for any other Walmart Imports FCL shipment. You’ll see tracking updates in Seller Center and can contact Seller Support for additional help.