Your Container Arrived from India: What to Check in the First 48 Hours

The container is finally at your dock. After weeks of production follow-ups, a pre-shipment inspection, and a long ocean voyage from Mundra or Nhava Sheva, your goods from India are here. What you do in the next 48 hours matters more than most buyers realize.

Once you sign the delivery receipt without remarks and start breaking down pallets, it becomes very hard to prove that a crushed carton, a short count, or water damage happened in transit rather than in your own warehouse. Carriers and insurers ask one question: what did you document, and when? This checklist covers the receiving inspection routine that protects your position.

1. Check the Seal and the Container Before It Opens

Before the doors swing open, walk around the container and note its condition. Then look at the seal:

• Match the seal number against the number on your bill of lading and the loading photos your agent or inspector sent from India. If they don't match, stop and call your forwarder before unloading.
• Check the seal is intact — a proper ISO 17712 high-security bolt seal should show no signs of tampering, cutting, or replacement.
• Note visible container damage — dents, holes, daylight visible through walls, or a compromised door gasket. Photograph all of it with the container number visible in frame.

If your loading was supervised, compare the arrival condition against the photo checkpoints from the container loading inspection — the empty-container photos taken at stuffing time are your baseline.

2. Count Cartons Against the Packing List — Before Breaking Pallets Down

Short shipments are discovered too late when cartons are counted after pallets have been split across aisles. Do the count at the dock door:

• Count total cartons per SKU or product line as they come off, and reconcile against the supplier's packing list before anything moves to storage.
• Check carton markings — shipping marks, carton numbers (e.g., 1 of 40), and labels should be legible and sequential. Gaps in numbering deserve a second look.
• If the count doesn't match, note the discrepancy on the delivery paperwork before signing, and photograph the staged cartons showing the shortfall.

3. Photograph First, Unpack Second

Your phone is your most important receiving tool. Before any carton is opened, capture:

• The sealed container with seal number visible, then the open doors showing the stow.
• Each pallet or stack as unloaded, showing carton condition — crushed corners, punctures, water staining, re-taped seams.
• Close-ups of every damaged carton with its shipping mark legible.

Damaged cartons should be set aside unopened until you've photographed them from all sides. Once opened and the contents dispersed, reconstructing what happened becomes guesswork.

4. Look for Moisture and Transit Damage

Containers crossing warm oceans can develop condensation inside — often called container rain — especially on routes out of Indian ports during humid months. Watch for:

• Damp or softened cartons, particularly at the top of the stow and near the doors.
• Water staining, mold spots, or musty odor on cartons and outer packaging.
• Desiccant bags — if your loading specification included them, check they were actually placed and note their condition.

For wooden furniture, moisture absorbed in transit can show up days later as warping or finish haze. Flag any suspect pieces for a follow-up check a week after arrival rather than clearing them on day one.

5. Open a Sample of Cartons and Inspect the Goods

You don't need to open everything on day one, but open a sensible sample across product lines — including cartons that looked fine from the outside. Check for:

• Breakage and finish damage consistent with rough handling or load shifting — chipped stone edges, cracked pottery, scuffed furniture finishes.
• Wrong or mixed items — the wrong SKU in a correctly marked carton is a packing error at origin, and it's far easier to resolve when the evidence is fresh.
• Missing hardware, parts, or accessories that should have shipped inside the carton.

Compare what you find with the pre-shipment inspection report from before the goods left India. Damage that wasn't in the PSI photos almost certainly happened in transit or handling — that distinction is exactly what carriers look for.

6. Report Problems Inside the Claim Window

Finding an issue is only half the job; reporting it correctly and promptly is the other half:

• Note visible damage on the delivery receipt at the time of delivery — a clean signature with no remarks weakens any later claim considerably.
• Notify your freight forwarder in writing as soon as damage or shortage is confirmed, and ask about their specific claim notification deadline — these vary by carrier and contract, so check yours rather than assuming.
• Keep everything — damaged cartons, packing materials, and the goods themselves — until the claim is resolved. Disposing of evidence ends the discussion.
• For quality defects that aren't transit-related (wrong specs, poor workmanship), raise them with your supplier directly and promptly; our guide on handling defective products from an Indian supplier walks through that conversation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Published by QualityLink Global Sourcing Team

Operating directly out of Jodhpur and Jaipur, Rajasthan. Our team provides hands-on supplier verification, factory audits, moisture testing, quality control, and container loading supervision across North India.