A. Shipment Ledgers

The Master Shipment Ledger records all food arrivals by shipment. This ledger provides basic information useful for cross-checking past shipments and can be used along with individual warehouse inventory ledgers to prepare Commodity Status Reports. Some CARE country offices may keep records of all shipments in one large ledger; other countries have a ledger for each individual shipment or have developed computerized databases or spreadsheets to prepare reports. In any case, the purpose of the Master Shipment Ledger is to have in one record a summary of all transactions relating to the shipment and a file which contains all documents and correspondence relating to each shipment.

A Master Shipment Ledger and Shipment File must be maintained either by CARE's contracted clearing and forwarding agent, the port representative, or the country office headquarters. The following information should be included in the ledger:

· Vessel
· Food type
· Bill of lading number
· Donor shipment or contract number
· Ship's arrival date
· Number of units
· Total weight
· Marine losses
· Port losses
· Total losses
· Total available balance for dispatch to inland warehouses
· Date of survey and other documents sent to CARE USA's Procurement Office or other CI member
· Cost of survey
· Costs of reconstitution.

Generally, Master Shipping Ledgers and shipment files should be maintained by logistics managers in the country office. Information in the Master Shipping Ledger should reconcile with the Commodity Inventory Records kept by the commodity financial accountant and the warehouse inventory records kept by port officers or warehouse managers for each shipment.