The four cutoffs, in order
VGM cut: the verified gross mass must be submitted — under SOLAS, the line will not load a container without it. SI cut: final shipping instructions (parties, description, marks, container and seal numbers) are due so the carrier can draft the B/L. CY cut: the last moment the terminal gate accepts the container for that vessel. DOC cut: the last moment B/L amendments are accepted before departure.
Each cutoff has a different failure cost. Miss VGM or CY and the container physically rolls to the next sailing — typically a week on weekly services. Miss SI and the cargo may still sail, but the B/L cannot be finalised before departure, which delays telex release or courier of originals and can hold cargo at destination. Miss DOC and errors sail with the vessel, to be fixed later as manifest amendments with fees and customs risk.
Why cutoffs are an inbox problem
Cutoffs move. Carriers advance them around holidays, port congestion, and blank sailings, and they announce changes by email — which means a desk's real cutoff calendar lives scattered across inbox threads. Most SI-cut misses are not negligence; they are an unread email arriving while the person who owns the booking was doing something else. This is a workflow-automation problem more than a diligence problem: booking confirmations and cutoff advisories are exactly the kind of structured-but-unstructured email that modern AI desks parse and calendar automatically.