Shipper’s Letter of Instruction
A Shippers Letter of Instruction (SLI) is a required document for exporting from the USA, granting a freight forwarder or carrier permission to act as a forwarding agent and providing instructions on how and where to handle the export shipment.
An SLI also grants the forwarding agent permission to send the shipment’s Electronic Export Information (EEI) to the Automated Export System (AES), which is vital for connecting the shipment to each leg of its journey and for notifying the destination port of the shipment’s arrival date. An SLI is typically provided by the exporter/shipper with the other required export documentation.
A standard SLI form will include:
- Designation of consignor/consignee and their contact information
- Routing information
- Incoterms
- Shipment dimensions and weight
- Goods description, and a UN number (if applicable)
- HS codes