Speed only matters when the plan is usable
Load planning is not finished when a volume calculation says the cargo should fit. The arrangement has to respect dimensions, payload, rotation, stacking, and the physical equipment available for this shipment.
Cargo Marshal shortens the path between receiving a cargo list and handing the warehouse a plan it can use.
That speed comes from keeping the planning loop focused and making every result inspectable.
The shortest path to a Load Plan
Start with one Project for the shipment. Add the customer, destination, reference, and any notes the planner or warehouse will need.
Then follow the core workflow:
- add Cargo Lines manually, paste a table, or map an Excel file
- select the available Sea or Road Equipment Types
- run Calculate
- inspect every Unit in 3D
- lock practical placements and recalculate if needed
- create a Share Link or download the Loading Report
The optimizer decides the number of Units. It never hides Unloaded cargo or warnings just to make the result look complete.
What you need from the cargo list
Each Cargo Line needs:
- quantity
- length, width, and height
- weight
- rotation rules
- whether the cargo is stackable
Names, SKUs, categories, descriptions, colors, and customer references make the plan easier to review, but the optimizer can start from the physical facts.
Reusable cargo belongs in the organization-wide Cargo Library. Adding it to a Project creates a snapshot, so later library edits never change an existing shipment.
Compare equipment instead of guessing
A Project can contain multiple named Load Plans. That makes alternatives explicit:
- three 40 ft containers
- two 40 ft containers plus one 20 ft container
- a road option using trailers already available at the depot
Each Load Plan snapshots its selected Equipment Types and owns its own arrangement. Comparing alternatives does not rewrite the Project's cargo list.
Review before you trust
Calculation proposes the arrangement; the planner verifies it. Review:
- volume and payload utilization
- item orientation and support
- door clearance and loading order
- warnings and Unloaded reasons
- whether a placement is practical on the warehouse floor
If a placement must stay, lock it. The next calculation preserves every Locked placement and solves the rest around it.
Make the handoff actionable
A Share Link lets warehouse staff or a client inspect the Load Plan without an account. The link is view-only: visitors follow the checklist and download the Loading Report without access to the Project's cargo list or organization libraries.
The Loading Report captures the same operational truth in a branded PDF:
- Unit-by-Unit placements
- cargo details
- statistics and utilization
- warnings
- Unloaded cargo
The planner, warehouse, and client work from the same result instead of three separate spreadsheets and screenshots.
Where to go next
Create one real shipment and compare two equipment alternatives. The useful question is not whether the optimizer can fill a box in a demo — it is whether the final plan helps you make a faster, more defensible booking decision.
That is the standard we use when deciding whether a feature belongs in Cargo Marshal.