Korean Used Car Shipping Instructions (SI): The Buyer-Authored B/L Draft That Locks In Your Cargo (2026)

Your Korean exporter has confirmed the vessel booking, your deposit has cleared, and the export declaration is filed. The very next step — the one most buyers never see and almost no exporters explain — is the Korean used car shipping instructions (SI): the structured submission the exporter sends to the carrier to tell them exactly how the Bill of Lading should read. Whether you are shipping by RoRo on EUKOR, Hyundai Glovis, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, or Höegh Autoliners, or by container with MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, ONE, or HMM, the Korean used car shipping instructions is the document that converts your booking into a draft B/L. Carrier cut-off times range from 24 to 72 hours before vessel ETD, and post-cut-off amendments cost between USD 50 and 500 each, so getting the SI right the first time is the single highest-leverage paperwork moment in the entire Korean used car export chain.

This guide breaks the Korean used car shipping instructions into its 14 essential fields, lists the cut-off timing for every major carrier serving Korean ports, explains the SI → B/L Draft → Original B/L flow, and gives you the pre-cut-off verification checklist to run before your exporter clicks Submit. For surrounding context, our step-by-step buying process and the complete Bill of Lading guide map where SI sits in the wider documentation chain.

What Are Korean Used Car Shipping Instructions?

The Korean used car shipping instructions — abbreviated SI, occasionally called the Shipping Order (SO) by older textbooks or B/L Instructions by container lines — is the structured electronic submission the Korean exporter sends to the shipping line after a vessel booking has been confirmed. It contains every data field the carrier needs to issue the Bill of Lading: shipper, consignee, notify party, vessel name and voyage, port of loading, port of discharge, place of delivery, marks and numbers, cargo description, HS code, gross weight, measurement, freight terms, and where applicable Letter of Credit reference.

Mechanically, the SI sits in a fixed three-document sequence with the carrier:

1. Shipping Order (SO) / Booking Confirmation — issued by the carrier to the exporter, confirming vessel slot reservation
2. Shipping Instructions (SI) — submitted by the exporter to the carrier, telling them how the B/L should read
3. Bill of Lading (B/L) — issued by the carrier to the exporter after vessel sailing, becoming the legal title document

Carriers serving Korean ports process roughly 2.4 million vehicle SI submissions per year, mirroring the volume the Korea Customs Service handles in export declarations. The bulk runs through Pyeongtaek Port for RoRo and Busan for container — the two hubs we mapped in detail in the Korean used car export ports guide.

What the Korean used car shipping instructions does not do:

• It does not book vessel space. That is the booking step that produces the Shipping Order. SI follows booking, never replaces it.
• It does not authorize Korean export. Only the Korea Customs Service export declaration (수출신고) does that.
• It does not transfer cargo ownership. The Bill of Lading does that, once issued.

The SI is purely the bridge between booking and B/L — but the bridge is load-bearing. Every field on it ends up on the B/L, which means every field on it ends up on the import customs filing at destination. A typo on the SI is a typo on the B/L is a customs clearance hold at Mombasa, Jebel Ali, or Almaty.

SI vs Shipping Order vs Bill of Lading: Who Issues What

The three documents are easy to confuse because the names sound similar. Here is the simple version:

The SO is short — usually one page with the vessel name, voyage number, ETD, ETA, booking number, port of loading, port of discharge, freight rate, and the SI cut-off deadline. The SI is long — typically 2 to 3 pages with all 14 cargo fields populated. The B/L is the document of record — 3 originals plus copies, signed and stamped by the carrier.

If you have only ever seen a B/L in your past Korean car purchases, you have been seeing the output of an SI process you were not invited into. The SI is where the consignee name gets locked in, where the notify party (your destination customs broker) is named, and where freight terms (Prepaid vs Collect) are chosen — all decisions that determine your import experience but that buyers rarely review before the carrier finalizes them. For broader context on how the B/L itself works once issued, see the Korean used car Bill of Lading guide, and on the surrender mechanics see the telex release guide.

The 14 Essential Fields on a Korean Used Car SI

Every Korean used car shipping instructions submission to EUKOR, Hyundai Glovis, Wallenius, Höegh, or any container line operating ex-Korea contains the same 14 essential fields. Each one drives a downstream consequence:

Field-by-field consequence map

The single most-overlooked field is Notify Party. Many buyers leave this blank or list themselves, then are surprised when the arrival notice goes to their email instead of to their customs broker. The carrier sends arrival notices only to the named Notify Party — if that party is not your broker, your broker does not know the vessel has arrived, does not start customs filing, and your free storage window at the destination port ticks down without anyone defending your demurrage clock. We documented this exact failure pattern in our demurrage and detention guide.

Carrier SI Cut-Off Times: RoRo and Container Ex-Korea

The single most consequential operational detail in the SI process is the carrier cut-off — the latest time the SI can be submitted for inclusion on a specific vessel. Cut-offs vary by carrier, by trade lane, and by mode. Approximate 2026 norms ex-Korean ports:

Always confirm the exact cut-off on the booking confirmation (SO) for your specific sailing. Carriers tighten cut-offs during seasonal peaks — Q4 Middle East fleet purchases, Q1 Central Asia stocking, post-Eid demand cycles — and during port congestion events at Pyeongtaek, Busan, or Incheon. For schedule context, our vessel schedule guide covers seasonality and sailing frequency.

Who Submits the SI — Exporter, Buyer, or Forwarder?

The party that booked the vessel is the party that submits the SI. In Korean used car export, that is almost always one of three parties:

1. The Korean exporter directly — most common pattern. The exporter holds a registered shipper account with the carrier (EUKOR EZ-Service, Glovis e-Shipping, Maersk MyMaersk, CMA CGM eBusiness) and submits the SI through the carrier portal.
2. A Korean-licensed freight forwarder (KIFFA member) on the exporter's behalf — common for small exporters and for container shipments where the freight forwarder issues a House B/L on top of the carrier's Master B/L. We explained the freight forwarder layer in detail in the Korean used car freight forwarder guide.
3. A buyer-nominated foreign forwarder coordinating with a Korean partner — used when the buyer arranges their own freight under CIF buyer-nominated carrier terms. Even here, the named shipper on the SI is still the Korean exporter, because they hold the export declaration.

Foreign buyers cannot submit SI directly to a carrier's Korean-port booking system. The carrier portals require a Korean business registration, a registered exporter ID, and frequently a tax identification number tied to the Korea Customs Service UNIPASS data exchange. This is why exporter selection matters at this step too — you are trusting the same party to handle both the export declaration and the SI, both of which carry your consignee name into legally binding shipping documents.

Submission timing follows a fixed sequence that mirrors the export declaration timing flow:

The single most undervalued step in the sequence is Step 5 — buyer review before SI submission. Most exporters submit the SI without sending a draft to the buyer first. SH GLOBAL's standard procedure (covered in the section below) is to email the draft SI to the buyer at least 24 hours before cut-off so any consignee or notify party mistakes are caught before the B/L draft is even issued — at zero amendment cost.

How the SI Becomes Your Verified Bill of Lading

Once the SI is submitted to the carrier, the path to the original Bill of Lading is a four-stage sequence:

Stage 1: Carrier validation (2 to 24 hours)

The carrier's SI processing system runs automated checks: does the SI match the SO for vessel/voyage, port of loading, port of discharge? Does the consignee country match the destination port? Does the HS code make sense for the cargo description? Does the gross weight match the declared cargo type? Mismatch flags trigger a request-for-correction email back to the named shipper, with no charge at this stage.

Stage 2: B/L Draft issuance (24 to 48 hours after SI acceptance)

The carrier emails a B/L Draft — also called Check Copy, Proof B/L, or Verification Copy — to the named shipper. This is a fully formatted, near-final B/L marked "DRAFT" or "NON-NEGOTIABLE COPY" at the top. The draft is the moment of truth: every field that will appear on the original is visible here. Reputable exporters forward the draft to the buyer for review within 4 to 24 hours of receipt.

Stage 3: Shipper-buyer verification (before vessel sailing)

This is the last cheap-amendment window. Routine field corrections (consignee address typo, notify party update, marks correction) at this stage are usually free — most carriers allow 2 free amendments per SI before charging. Once the vessel sails, the price tag flips: every change becomes a chargeable amendment.

Stage 4: Original B/L issuance (2 to 7 business days after vessel sailing)

After the vessel departs, the carrier issues the original Bill of Lading: typically 3 originals plus copies, signed and stamped. The originals are physical paper documents — the exporter receives them at their Korean office, then forwards them to the buyer by international courier (DHL, FedEx, EMS) or surrenders them for telex release if the buyer has paid in full.

End to end, from SI submission to original B/L in the buyer's hand: typically 4 to 10 business days. From SI submission to telex release at destination (where physical originals are not couriered): typically 2 to 5 business days.

Common SI Errors and B/L Amendment Costs

SH GLOBAL internal data on SI-driven amendment frequency, 2024–2025:

Amendment cost rises with the document stage at which the change is requested:

The shape of the cost curve is the entire reason the pre-cut-off buyer checklist exists. Catching a single consignee typo at the SI draft stage costs zero; catching it after B/L issuance costs USD 200 to 500 and a 2-week courier round-trip to physically return the originals to Korea. For more on costly post-shipment mistakes, see our 10 costly Korean used car buying mistakes guide.

Pre-Cut-Off Buyer Verification Checklist

Eight items to verify in writing with your exporter at least 24 hours before SI cut-off:

1. Consignee exact name and address. Character-for-character match with your import license, business registration, or passport (for personal imports). One missing comma can fail customs matching at some destination ports.
2. Notify Party. Almost always your destination customs broker — never blank, never just your personal email. Confirm full company name, address, and contact.
3. Vessel name and voyage number. Must match the latest Shipping Order. Carriers occasionally substitute vessels last-minute; ask your exporter to confirm the booking is still on the original sailing.
4. Port of Discharge and Place of Delivery. Specific terminal matters. Mombasa not Dar es Salaam. Jebel Ali not Khalifa Port. Tin Can Island not Apapa. Tema not Takoradi.
5. Chassis number (VIN). 17 characters, no zero-vs-O confusion, no I-vs-1 confusion. Must match the chassis number on your export declaration and your vehicle history report.
6. HS Code at 10 digits. 8703.xx-9000 for passenger cars, 8704.xx-9000 for trucks, 8702.xx-9000 for 10+ seat vehicles. Confirm with your destination broker before SI submission — the duty difference can be 10 percentage points.
7. Freight Terms. Prepaid means the freight is included in your FOB+freight package (CFR/CIF terms). Collect means you pay the freight at destination — different cash flow, different timing, different risk on your end. Cross-reference with the Incoterms guide.
8. Letter of Credit reference (if applicable). Bank requires exact match; one wrong digit voids L/C payment. See the L/C payment guide for the document set involved.

RoRo SI vs Container SI: Three Key Differences

The 14 essential fields are the same, but RoRo and container SI workflows differ in three meaningful ways:

1. Cut-off timing

RoRo SI cut-offs are 48 to 72 hours before ETD because the carrier needs to plan deck loading by vessel deck, voyage segment, and discharge port — each car parked individually in a specific position on the vessel deck. Container SI cut-offs are typically 24 hours after the Verified Gross Mass (VGM) cut-off, which itself is 24 to 48 hours before ETD. Container shipments add the VGM step (SOLAS regulation requiring verified container weight before loading); RoRo skips VGM entirely.

2. Cargo description granularity

RoRo SI requires per-vehicle description — one row per chassis number, because each car is a separate cargo unit on the deck. Container SI groups cargo per container — one row per container regardless of how many vehicles inside (typically 1 car in a 20ft, 2 cars in a 40HC, sometimes 3 small cars in a 40HC with specialized racks). The exporter's container packing decisions therefore directly drive what the container SI shows.

3. Reference fields

RoRo B/L carries a Voyage Booking Reference (VBR) and sometimes a deck position code. Container B/L carries Container Number and Seal Number — both of which the shipper does not know until physical loading at the Korean terminal. This is why container SI is sometimes submitted in two stages: pre-loading SI with empty Container/Seal fields, and post-loading SI Update once the terminal assigns the container.

For deeper context on the two modes, see our RoRo shipping guide and the container shipping guide. The choice between RoRo and container is itself one of the biggest decisions in your buying process — covered in detail in our shipping logistics guide from Korea.

How SH GLOBAL Handles SI Submission

SH GLOBAL treats the Korean used car shipping instructions as a four-checkpoint document, not a one-shot submission. Our standard procedure:

• Draft SI shared with buyer at least 24 hours before carrier cut-off. All 14 fields visible, with consignee and notify party highlighted for buyer confirmation.
• Cross-validation against the export declaration (수출신고). Consignee name, VIN, HS code, FOB value, port of loading — all five fields confirmed identical before SI submission to avoid B/L-vs-export-declaration mismatch at destination customs.
• B/L draft forwarded to buyer within 4 hours of carrier issuance. Not days later. The draft is the last free-amendment window and every hour matters.
• Pre-sailing final verification with buyer. Written confirmation that the buyer has reviewed the draft and approved every field before vessel sailing.
• Carrier portal accounts on EUKOR EZ-Service, Hyundai Glovis e-Shipping, Wallenius Online, Höegh OnLine, Maersk MyMaersk, MSC myMSC, CMA CGM eBusiness, and ONE eCommerce — direct shipper submission, no third-party intermediary that could add typos or hide cut-off slippage.
• Notify Party defaulted to buyer's customs broker (we ask for broker details at order confirmation, never at SI submission).
• HS code two-stage verification — auction sourcing team flags chapter at purchase, customs filing team confirms 10-digit code at export declaration, SI desk re-confirms before submission.

SH GLOBAL Hyundai inventory — every shipment ships with a buyer-reviewed SI and B/L draft before vessel sailing. Browse Hyundai inventory →

For specific brand availability, browse Hyundai inventory, Kia inventory, or Genesis inventory. To see how the SI step fits in the broader purchase flow, walk through our step-by-step buying process, or for regional context our Africa export guide and Central Asia export guide cover the destination-side requirements your SI must align with.