The most common friction on a first Egyptian part-load is not quality and it is not delay. It is the invoice. The buyer weighs the goods, gets a number lower than the one on the commercial invoice, and assumes something is wrong. Usually nothing is wrong. Three different weights are in play on every shipment and they are supposed to differ. Knowing which one you are being charged on removes most of the argument before it starts.
The three weights
Net weight is the produce alone, excluding carton, liner, tray and pallet. Gross weight is the net plus all packing materials plus the pallet itself. Declared or shipped weight is the gross figure that appears on the bill of lading and feeds the container VGM. A 4 kg mango carton has a gross of roughly 4.4 to 4.6 kg once board, liner and tray are counted, and a standard wooden pallet adds another 22 to 25 kg to whatever sits on it.
The invoice should be built on net weight or on a fixed price per carton. It should never be built on gross unless you have explicitly agreed that, because you would then be paying produce prices for cardboard. Check which basis your proforma uses before you approve it.
Per-carton pricing is usually the cleaner deal
On part-loads we quote per carton wherever the product allows it, and most fresh fruit does. A price of, for example, a fixed figure per 4 kg carton of a stated count removes weight reconciliation from the conversation entirely. You order forty cartons, you receive forty cartons, you pay for forty cartons. The exporter carries the small variation in fill weight, which is why the nominal weight is a target rather than a guarantee.
Per-kilo pricing suits bulk and bagged lines better: onion in 25 kg mesh, potato in jute, dates in cartons of variable fill, IQF product in 10 kg bags. On these the invoice is calculated from the packing list net figure, and the packing list should be produced from actual weighing at the packhouse rather than from the nominal figure printed on the bag. Ask for the weight sheet if the numbers look too round.
Why arrival weight is always a little lower
Fresh produce loses moisture in transit. On a two to three week reefer voyage a shrink of one to three percent on net weight is normal, more on leafy and thin-skinned items, less on citrus and roots. This is a physical fact, not a shortage, and it is why experienced exporters overfill slightly at packing. If your arrival weight is within a few percent of the invoiced net, you have a normal shipment. If it is ten percent light, that is a shortage and worth raising immediately with photographs and a weighbridge or platform-scale record. How that conversation is handled on a shared container is set out in our note on part-load claims when one item arrives short or off-spec.
Reconciling the final invoice
On a part-load the proforma is issued against your order and the final commercial invoice is issued after packing, when the actual carton count and net weight are known. Differences of a carton or two either way are routine and should be settled on the final invoice rather than left open. Three checks close it out cleanly: the final invoice quantity matches the packing list, the packing list matches the carton count on your delivery note, and the freight share billed to you matches the pallet space you took rather than an arbitrary split. Pallet space and how it is costed is covered in our note on pallet space planning in a mixed reefer.
Peivana quotes per carton on fresh lines and per kilo on bulk and frozen, and issues the final invoice against the actual packing list every time. To get a quotation with the pricing basis stated up front, message us on WhatsApp at +20 10 9911 1918.