Industrial Pre-Shipment Inspection Companies 

Industrial Pre-shipment inspection companies are Independent Third Party Inspection Companies that provide their services to the buyers, sellers, traders, importers, exporters and any individual interested companies.

In industrial commodities normally Pre-Shipment Inspection is accompanied by Vendor Inspection. In this case the purchaser will order to Inspection Agency to make several visits to witness some inspection and test during manufacturing process.

Additionally the purchaser will order to the inspection agency to make final inspection and check commodity overall visual inspection, Packing and Marking Inspection. In this stage the commodity will be checked based on supplied packing list.

The responsibility of Pre-Shipment Inspection agency is higher when the order is only for pre-shipment inspection and vendor inspection is not included in scope of work. In this case the related pre-shipment inspection agency must precisely check Vendor Quality Control documents and make sure that all mandated inspections and tests in construction code have been done by vendor with satisfactory result.

For some commodities applying vendor inspection is not possible and only the commodity must be checked by pre-shipment inspection. For example when a buyer purchases line pipes and flanges from a supplier then there is no chance to make inspection during manufacturing process.

Pre-Shipment Inspection Companies responsibility 

In this case it is responsibility of pre-shipment inspection agency to do a comprehensive review in Quality Control documents such as material certificates and NDE records. This is normal practice for raw material such as pipes, flanges, fittings, plates, gaskets, cables, etc. But in the industrial equipment normally both of vendor inspection and pre-shipment inspection are necessary.

Pre-Shipment inspection is mandatory sometimes by terms of letter of credit (LC). In this case inspection scope will be stated in LC and a pre-shipment inspection certificate is necessary to be submitted to the bank for any fund transfer between buyer and seller.

The Pre-Shipment Inspection Certificate is very different from routine inspection certificate. This certificate must be issued based on the consignee bank requirement. Normally LC, purchase order, proforma invoice, packing list and contract numbers must be stated in the certificate.

The commodity quantity i.e. number of boxes, crates, pallets with gross weight and net weight also must be in pre-shipment inspection certificate.

There is a specific place in the Pre-Shipment Inspection Certificate that is named conclusion. The statement in this section must be based on terms of LC. Any deviation from this wording will not be acceptable by consignee bank.

The Consignee bank will reject any payment if there is discrepancy between terms of LC and certificate of inspection.

Pre-shipment Inspection is Mandatory in Some Countries. In these countries this might be mandatory for all commodities that are imported or mandatory only for some classified commodities. Some of these countries have direct contract between their governments and pre-shipment inspection companies and some other only mandated that importers to hire the pre-shipment inspection agencies. In this case a pre-shipment inspection certificate must be delivered to a custom authority for releasing of the commodity.

Pre-Shipment Inspection Service Provider companies normally are international companies with many representative and joint venture and agent companies across the world. These subsidiaries work like sister companies and provide services to each other. They have an internal invoicing system to use their services.