A unit is one piece of moving equipment with an ISO 6346 number painted on it: an ISO tank, a container, a reefer, a flexitank, a swap body or something...
Units
A unit is one piece of moving equipment with an ISO 6346 number painted on it: an ISO tank, a container, a reefer, a flexitank, a swap body or something else. The Units screen is the equipment register of your depots and terminals. It lists every unit on every site, with where it stands (zone, bay, row, tier), whether it is loaded or empty and clean or dirty, who owns it, whether its free storage days are running out, and when its next 2.5-year test, 5-year test or CSC examination is due. From a unit you gate it in, move it in the yard, request a service, place a hold or gate it out.
Where to find it: Workspace → Logistics → Warehouse → Units. Each site also has its own Units tab with only that site's units, and a client's Warehouse tab shows only the units that client owns.
Who can use it
Anyone with the base Warehouse permission (View sites, the live yard, units, tanks and movements) can see units and open a unit's card.
To add, edit or delete a unit you need Add and edit units, part of the group Add and edit units, tanks and products.
To gate units in and out you need Gate in and gate out; to move them, Move units in the yard; to place and release holds, Place and release holds (customs, line, payment, damage). All three are part of the daily-operations group Gate in and out, move units, fill and empty tanks.
Prices on the card (the price of a storage day once free time is over) are only shown with See prices, revenue and margins.
A role marked Cannot delete anything keeps editing but loses the delete action; a role marked Cannot use bulk actions works one row at a time.
Request a service only appears when the Depot containers and ISO tanks in a yard module is switched on.
Where it sits in the operation
A unit's life in the depot is a chain of gate and yard events: it is gated in from a truck (or pre-registered), stacked, perhaps moved to the cleaning station or the repair shop, put on hold by customs or the line, and finally gated out against a release. The Units screen shows the result of those events; it never changes them by hand. Position, status and contents are a cache of the Movements ledger: only a gate in, gate out, move, tank operation or finished service rewrites them, and each one writes exactly one movement.
The status a unit carries is decided by the zone it stands in, not chosen by the clerk:
Figure 1 The status follows the zone: gate in or move a unit into a cleaning station zone and it is Being cleaned, into a repair shop zone and it is In repair, anywhere else and it is In the yard. A hold is not a status; it sits on top of one and only stops Gate out.
About "Expected". The status list contains Expected, and AI assistants can filter on it, but no screen, import or assistant action sets it today. A unit you register in advance stays Not on site until it is gated in. Trucks announced by a transport trip show in the live yard under Expected today instead (see Sites).
What you see
The top of the page shows Units in: how many units are on your sites right now. The Add a unit button sits at the top right of the tab strip.
The filter tabs above the list:
Tab
What it lists
On site (the default)
Every unit that is on a site: In the yard, Being cleaned or In repair.
All
Every unit you know, including those that have left.
Being cleaned
Units standing in a cleaning station zone.
In repair
Units standing in a repair shop zone.
Not on site
Units that have left, or were registered but never came in.
Test due soon
A 2.5-year test, 5-year test or CSC examination falls within the warning period (30 days unless changed in Settings → Yard and safety).
Test expired
One of those dates has passed.
Free time ending
Units in the yard whose free storage days run out within the warning period (2 days unless changed in Settings → Billing → Warn before free time ends). They cost nothing yet.
Free time over
Units in the yard whose free storage days have run out. Each row says Costing for N days.
The columns:
Column
What it shows
Unit number
The ISO number, written the ISO way (CSQU 305438-3) or as one string (CSQU3054383), depending on Settings → Look → Unit numbers. Typing and scanning accept both. Click it to open the unit's card.
Type
ISO tank, Container, Reefer, Flexitank, Swap body or Other, and its length in feet (20', 30', 40', 45').
Status
Expected, In the yard, Being cleaned, In repair or Not on site. A Costing for N days badge when free time is over, and an On hold badge while a hold is open.
Position
Site, zone code, bay, row and tier, for example "Antwerp depot · A-03-02-1" (bay 3, row 2, tier 1). In a cleaning, repair, parking or quay zone it shows only the zone, because those zones are not slotted.
Load
Loaded (with product and litres) or Empty (with Clean, or a Dirty badge).
Owner (client)
The client who owns the unit, with a link to the client.
Safety dates
Only dates that need attention: amber when due soon, red when expired. 2.5y, 5y and CSC.
The list can be searched, sorted, exported to Excel or printed. Select several rows to Give them to one owner client or to delete them at once.
The unit's card
Click a unit number (or the eye icon) to open its card. It shows the status, an On hold banner listing every open hold, position, load, cleanliness, condition, its Last cargoes (up to three, newest first), the three safety dates (coloured), capacity, UN T-code and ADR tank code, operator / lessor, In since (the time of the last gate in) and Free time (free until a date, or costing for N days). Below that are its gate photos, its service orders and its last eight movements, each gate move with an EIR badge.
The buttons at the bottom depend on where the unit is and what you may do:
On a site: Request a service (Depot module), Place a hold, Move and Gate out. Gate out is hidden while a hold is open.
Not on a site: Gate in.
Always, if you may edit: Edit unit.
ISO 6346: how the number is checked
Every unit number is validated on every input the gate form, the unit form, the scanner, Marvin and the API. A unit number is 4 letters (owner code of three letters plus the equipment category U, J or Z), 6 serial digits and 1 check digit. The App strips spaces, dashes and lower case before checking, so "csqu 305438-3", "CSQU305438 3" and "CSQU3054383" are the same unit.
Figure 2 The check digit protects the whole number: one misread letter or a swapped pair of digits changes the sum, so the gate refuses the number before a wrong unit enters the yard.
The placeholder shown in the empty number field ("HOYU 123456-7") only illustrates the format; it is not a valid number (its check digit would be 0). Use a real unit when you train someone.
Gate a unit in
Start a gate in from a site page (button Gate in), from a unit's card, from Expected today in the live yard, from a trip stop at your gate (the form opens with the truck, driver and booking already filled in), or from Scan.
Figure 3 Everything the clerk types is checked before anything is written; then the visit, the movement and the unit's new position are saved together or not at all. The appointment, truck check-in, EDI message and photos follow the committed move and can never undo it.
Click Gate in. If you did not start from a site, choose the Site first.
Type or scan the Unit number ("Type or scan the unit number. Everything else is optional."). As soon as 11 letters and digits are typed the App checks it:
A known unit shows its type, owner, status and position.
A new number opens New unit? Tell us a little about it: choose the Type, the Length and, optional, the Owner (client). The unit is registered at the moment you let it in.
Optional: Put it in a zone (container stacks, cleaning station, repair shop, parking and quay zones are offered). Leave it empty to use the first free slot in the site's container stacks.
Choose the Load (Empty or Loaded) and the Cleanliness (Unknown, Clean or Dirty). When it is loaded, choose the Product and, optional, type the litres in Litres in it.
Truck plate, driver, Booking reference and Condition (Sound or Damaged). When you set Damaged, tap the damaged sides under Damage on: Front, Rear, Left, Right, Roof, Floor.
Optional: Haulier, Seal, Damage or remarks and Photos. With Settings → Look → Short gate form on, these fold under More details; they open by themselves for a damaged unit.
Click Let it in. You see for example "CSQU 305438-3 is in, at A-01-01-1." The unit appears in the live yard at once.
While you type the truck plate, a line under it says whether that truck has a gate appointment today and at what time, or that it is late (see Gate appointments). A booking reference that matches an acceptance order from the line (EDI COPARN) is counted on that order; acceptance orders never refuse a unit coming back.
Move a unit in the yard
Click Move on the site page or on the unit's card.
Choose the Unit (only units on this site are listed) and where to Put it in. A destination is required for a move.
Optional: a Note it appears in the Note column of Movements.
Click Move it. The unit takes the first free slot in that zone, and its status follows the zone (Figure 1).
Slots follow the physics of a stack: a 20' unit takes one bay, a 40' or 45' unit spans two; a unit can only stand on top of another unit (nothing floats); and a unit with another unit on top of it cannot be moved or gated out until the top one is moved. Two clerks placing units in the same zone at the same moment never get the same slot.
Gate a unit out
Click Gate out on the site page or on the unit's card.
Choose the Unit.
Truck plate, driver, Booking reference, Condition and, optional, haulier, seal, remarks and photos. If the unit's owner sends release orders (see EDI), type the booking number the haulier gives: the unit is counted on that release order, and an owner that requires release orders has its units refused without a valid one (unknown, used up, expired, for other units or for another size).
For a laden unit going to a ship, fill the VGM verified gross mass (SOLAS) box: Gross mass (kg) (100 to 60 000), How it was weighed (Method 1 the whole unit on a weighbridge or Method 2 contents plus tare) and Signed by. It is kept on the gate visit, printed on the EIR and sent to the line in the CODECO gate-out message.
If the administrator switched on Confirm before gate out, tick I checked the release and the seal.
Click Let it out. You see "CSQU 305438-3 has left the site." Its status becomes Not on site, its slot is freed and its storage stay closes.
Put a unit on hold
A hold keeps a unit in the yard: customs has not cleared it, the shipping line has not released it, the client has not paid, or it is damaged.
Open the unit's card and click Place a hold.
Choose Hold by: Customs, Shipping line, Payment, Damage or Other. Add the Reference you will be asked about the MRN, the B/L or the invoice number and a Note if it helps. Both are optional.
Click Place the hold.
While a hold is open the unit shows On hold in the list, on its card and on the scanner, and it cannot gate out not at the gate, not from the scanner, not through Marvin or an AI assistant. The gate clerk is told which hold stops it ("… is on hold (Customs 24BE…). Release the hold before it can gate out.").
When it is cleared, open the card and click Release next to the hold, say why if you like ("customs cleared, MRN 24BE…") and click Release the hold. The hold stays on the card with who placed and released it and when. A unit can have several holds; it leaves only when none is open.
The interchange receipt (EIR)
Every gate in and gate out has an Equipment interchange receipt: the unit, the time, the site, the truck plate, trailer plate, driver and haulier, the booking reference, the seal, the load, the condition with the damaged sides marked on a diagram, the VGM on a laden gate out, the photos taken at the gate (within half an hour of the visit), and two signature lines (Driver and Gate clerk).
Open the receipt from the EIR badge next to the gate move in Movements or on the unit's card.
Click Print or save as PDF and have the driver sign.
The receipt shows what was recorded at that gate move and does not change afterwards. A client can open the EIR of its own units from the client portal, without the photos.
Add or edit a unit by hand
Most units are registered at the gate. To add one in advance (a lessor's fleet list, a unit pre-advised by a client):
Click Add a unit.
Type the Unit number. The check digit is verified and a duplicate is refused.
Choose the Type and Length. Optional: Owner (client), Operator / lessor (a provider), ISO size-type (4 characters, for example 22T6 or 45G1) and Condition.
For an ISO tank or flexitank, the optional Tank specs: Capacity (litres), Tare (kg), Max gross (kg), UN T-code (e.g. T11), ADR tank code (e.g. L4BN), Heating (None, Steam, Electric, Steam and electric) and Has baffles. Capacity is used to refuse an overfill from a storage tank.
Optional Safety dates: 2.5-year test due, 5-year test due and CSC examination due (picked from the calendar).
Click Save the unit. A new unit starts as Not on site until it is gated in.
You cannot change a unit's position, status, load or contents here. Those change only through gate moves, moves, tank operations and services, so the history always adds up.
Controls and exceptions
What the App refuses, with the message the clerk sees:
Number shape: "A unit number is 4 letters (the 4th is U, J or Z), 6 digits and a check digit, like HOYU 123456-7."
Wrong check digit: "The check digit does not match. For these first 10 characters it should be 3. Please check the number on the unit." The App tells you the right digit, but always look at the unit again: usually another character was misread.
Duplicate: "There is already a unit with this number."
Already in: "CSQU 305438-3 is already on site Antwerp depot."
Gate out or move of a unit that is not in: "CSQU 305438-3 is not on a site."
Nothing floats: "CSQU 305438-3 has EXFU 508606-0 standing on top of it. Move that one first." A slot chosen without anything underneath: "That slot is taken, or there is nothing underneath to stand on."
No stack drawn: "This site has no container stack yet. Draw one on the yard plan first."
Full: "That zone is full." or "Every container stack on this site is full."
Move without a destination: "Choose where it goes."
On hold: "… is on hold (…). Release the hold before it can gate out."
VGM: "… is laden: enter its VGM (verified gross mass) before it leaves." (only with Require VGM on laden gate out), "The VGM must be a gross mass between 100 and 60 000 kg.", "Say who signs the VGM."
Required gate fields: with Settings → Yard and safety → Must be filled in at the gate (any of truck plate, seal, driver, booking reference, at least one photo), the gate screen will not save without them: "Fill in before saving: Seal, Driver." Moves made by an assistant, the guide or EDI are not held to it.
Seal check: with Settings → Yard and safety → Seal check at gate out set to Warn when it differs, a different seal is saved with a warning that stays on screen; set to Block: the same seal must be typed, the unit cannot leave until the seal recorded at gate in is typed. Spaces and dashes are ignored ("ml-12 345" equals "ML12345").
Filling a unit from a storage tank: refused when a test date has passed ("… cannot be filled: its test was due on 01-03-2026."), when it already holds another product, when it is empty but dirty from another product, or when it would exceed its capacity.
Delete: a unit that is on a site cannot be deleted gate it out first. A deleted unit can be restored with undo.
Pressing a button twice, or a slow network that resends, never moves a unit twice: "This was already recorded."
Warnings that never block:
Dangerous goods side by side. When a laden unit goes into a stack (gate in or move) next to, on or under a laden unit whose dangerous-goods class must be kept apart from its own for example a flammable liquid (class 3) next to an oxidizer (class 5.1), or explosives (class 1) next to anything dangerous the gate shows a warning naming the neighbouring unit. The move still happens: move one of them if the segregation rules require it. The warning uses the hazard class on each unit's product; clashes that depend on the specific product (acids and alkalis, for example) stay your call.
Photos. Gate photos are uploaded after the move is saved. If an upload fails, the gate move stands and you are told the photos were not saved.
When the yard and the system disagree a unit is not where the list says, or is in the yard but the App says it left never edit the unit. Record what really happened: Move it to where it stands, or gate it in again. For a full reconciliation use Yard check.
For the manager
Daily:Free time over is the list to send to clients before the month-end invoice; Free time ending is the moment to warn them while it still costs nothing. Check open holds on the units that are due to leave.
Weekly:Test due soon is the inspection list for your M&R surveyors; Test expired units cannot be filled from your storage tanks. Being cleaned and In repair show what is stuck in the wash bay or the shop.
Billing: storage days are counted from the gate in and gate out movements of each stay, against the owner's (or the line's) storage rate in Rates, after its free days. Gate moves are billed per gate in and gate out. Fill in the owner: storage is billed to the owner, and EDI messages go to the owner's partner.
EDI: every committed gate in and gate out writes a CODECO for each active partner of the unit's owner; a laden gate out carries its VGM.
AI Reports: units appear in "All business data" as Containers and ISO tanks (Warehouse), by status, kind, owner and site. AI assistants connected through MCP can search units, read one unit, gate in, gate out, move and place or release holds, with the same rules and permissions as the screen. Marvin can do the same from a chat and can read the number from a gate photo when Settings → AI → Warehouse: read gate photos is on; Marvin always asks you to confirm.
Glossary
ISO 6346
The standard for container identification: owner code, equipment category (U, J, Z), 6-digit serial and a modulo-11 check digit.
Size-type code
The 4-character ISO code for length, height and type, for example 22T6 (20' tank) or 45G1 (40' high-cube general purpose).
Gate in / gate out
The unit crossing the gate on a truck. Each one is a visit (with its EIR) and one movement in the ledger.
EIR
Equipment Interchange Receipt: the signed record of the unit's condition, seal and truck at the moment it changed hands.
Bay / row / tier
The slot in a container stack. A 40' or 45' unit spans two 20' bays; tier 1 is the ground.
Hold
A block on gate out placed for customs, the shipping line, payment, damage or another reason, released with a note.
Release order
The line's instruction (EDI COPARN) that lets a named or counted set of units leave against a booking number.
VGM
Verified gross mass under SOLAS, by method 1 (weighbridge) or method 2 (contents plus tare), with the signatory.
CSC plate / examination
The Container Safety Convention approval; the next examination date is tracked as CSC examination due.
2.5-year / 5-year test
The intermediate and periodic inspection of a portable tank. A tank whose test date has passed cannot be filled.
UN T-code / ADR tank code
The portable-tank instruction (e.g. T11) and the ADR tank code (e.g. L4BN) of the unit.
Free time
The free storage days of the owner's storage rate, counted from the gate in; after it each day is billed.
Last cargoes
The last three products the unit carried, used for cleaning decisions and printed on the cleaning certificate.
Segregation
Keeping dangerous-goods classes apart in the stack; Warehouse warns, it never blocks.
Related screens
Sites: the yard plan, the live yard and the gate buttons.
