Customer FAQs

Please send your purchase orders to the Customer Solutions Specialist assigned to your account or the global email address communicated to you and copy your Business Account Manager.  You should receive an email confirmation from our Customer Solutions Department within a few days.  If you do not receive acknowledgement that your order has been received within a few business days, please reach out via our Contact Form to ensure your order has been received and properly entered into our system.

Once your order has been entered into our system and firm planned, you will receive an order confirmation, which ensures that the order is on our schedule.  Both order acknowledgements and confirmation contain basic order data relating to item purchased and plant shipping schedule.  For container shipments, our forwarder will provide the booking details to you via email.

Our Customer Solutions team processes each purchase order on a first-come, first serve basis.  KaMin does not maintain bagged safety inventory at any of our sites unless contractually required to do so.  Your Business Account Manager can provide the standard production lead time for each product you purchase, and you can estimate the arrival time of containers by adding this time and the vessel transit time plus one week. Vessel schedules vary by shipping line, so be conservative with your estimates to allow enough time to secure bookings that meet your needs.  It is also suggested that you keep some safety stock at your site for emergencies.

After your purchase order is received, our Customer Solutions team makes every effort to process it quickly and secure production space in our plants to meet your requested time of arrival.  For export orders, we partner with one of three forwarders to secure the best available shipping schedule based on our site ready date provided by our Planner and the shipping lines.  Shipping lines do not immediately provide shipping schedules when requested.  Our forwarders will not be able to secure a booking confirmation from our contracted shipping lines within 4 weeks of the production ready date and sometimes not for 6-8 weeks.

If the payment terms are Letter of Credit or Cash in Advance, we do not request production time until the Letter of Credit is received and approved by KaMin’s bank or funds are deposited in the case of Cash in Advance.

While KaMin does not provide package-style tracking, you will receive booking details with essential vessel information. You can use these details to track your shipment directly via the carrier’s website.

Tips:
‍Track by the carrier on your Bill of Lading, not the vessel name.
For most detailed results, track by container number.
‍

Our forwarders prepare your export documents on behalf of KaMin.  Normally, documents are ready for distribution within 5-7 business days.  For shipments that require legalization and special certificates, it takes 7-10 days to complete the documents.  In some rare cases, documents can be delayed by shipping lines and bank reviews.  If you have questions about documents or the status of your documents, please contact the following teammates at our forwarders.

Forwarder Documentation Contacts
Page International - Booking -  pagekaminbt@page-int.com
Page International - Documents - pagekamindocs@page-int.com
DJ Powers - kamin@djpowers.com
PSA/BDP - kamin.export@bdpint.com

Our forwarders have a copy of all KaMin contracts with the shipping lines and will be able to answer questions about free time and demurrage time at destinations, as well as handle requests for additional time. Please note, it is difficult to update the free time for containers already on the water.  For all free time type questions, please contact our forwarders' booking and transportation departments per below contacts. Our Customer Solutions Team will not be able to assist in these cases.

Forwarder Documentation Contacts
Page International - Booking -  pagekaminbt@page-int.com
DJ Powers - kamin@djpowers.com
PSA/BDP - kamin.export@bdpint.com

Shipping lines expect after a container is unloaded at the destination, it will be swept clean and all packing material removed.  We suggest taking a photo of the clean container as a record.  If a container is returned clean, and you receive an invoice from the shipping line, please forward the invoice and photo to our forwarder, your Business Account Manager and our Regional Quality Director.  Our forwarder will attempt to have the fee waived.  Our Customer Solutions Team will not be able to assist in these cases.

Forwarder Documentation Contacts
Page International - Booking -  pagekaminbt@page-int.com
DJ Powers - kamin@djpowers.com
PSA/BDP - kamin.export@bdpint.com

If the empty container is returned in the same condition as it was received and you receive an invoice from the shipping line, please forward the invoice and photo to our forwarder, your Business Account Manager and our Regional Quality Director.  Our forwarder will attempt to have the fee waived.  Our Customer Care Team will not be able to assist in these cases.

Forwarder Documentation Contacts
Page International - Booking -  pagekaminbt@page-int.com
DJ Powers - kamin@djpowers.com
PSA/BDP - kamin.export@bdpint.com