Parcels or goods are often shipped together. They can be put on a pallet or in a cage and on a truck together with other pallets. If the truck is delayed, all parcels in that container will be delayed. 

With the Container feature in Ship, you can make a grouping called a "container" which contains many shipments. It can be a virtual container or a physical item like a pallet. The container can be an ordinary shipment that acts as the "parent" shipment while all the shipments added to it will act as "children". 

When you add an event to a container, all shipments belonging to the container will automatically inherit the same event. When searching for a shipment in Portal, you can see which container it belongs to. It gives you a better overview of the location of your parcels. 

You must have an active Action Center to use containers. Read more about setting up an Action Center here.

Contents of this article:

• Activating the Container feature
• Adding shipments to a virtual Container
• Adding shipments to a shipment container
• Containers in Portal

Activating the Container feature

The Container feature must be activated by nShift Customer Service. Please submit a request and ask for the activation of containers in Ship. 

Adding shipments to a virtual Container

A virtual container is a virtual entity named by you. Follow these steps to add shipments to a Virtual Container:

1. Go to Ship > Outbox.
   
   
2. Select the shipments you want to add to a container and choose Add container in the three-dot menu. 
   
   
   
   
3. Select Create virtual container. (You may also choose a virtual container from the drop-down list if you already have an existing container that you want to use).
   
   
4. Enter a name for the virtual container and click Ok.
   
   
   
   

It is possible to add more shipments later to a virtual container. Follow the steps above but choose an existing virtual container in step 3. The existing virtual containers will appear on the drop-down list.

To remove a shipment from a container, select it in Outbox and choose Remove container in the three-dot menu.

Adding shipments to a shipment container

A shipment container is a shipment created in Ship that acts as a container for other shipments. Follow these steps to add shipments to a shipment container: 

1. Go to Ship > Outbox.
   
   
2. Select the shipments you want to add to a container and choose Add container in the three-dot menu. 
   
   
   
   
3. Select Create shipment container and click Ok.
   
   
   
   
4. You will now be sent to the Ship > New page where you can create the shipment that will act as a container for the shipments selected in Outbox.
   
   

It is not possible to add more shipments to a shipment container later but you may add the shipment container with its contents to another container. 

To remove a shipment from a container, select it in Outbox and choose Remove container in the three-dot menu.

Containers in Portal

When a shipment has been added to a container, it will appear on the shipment in nShift Portal. Click Status > View journey to see the name of the container.