Tracking on the Ocean Network Express (ONE) portal

The ONE portal takes a container or bill of lading number from the URL, so the widget above opens the result directly.

The result is per-container operational data: vessel and voyage, load and discharge ports, expected schedule and milestones. No customs status.

The most confusing thing about tracking ONE cargo is the container prefix. ONE was formed by merging the container businesses of NYK, MOL and K-Line, and boxes inherited from all three are still in circulation. So a container carrying an NYK, MOL or K-Line prefix is an ONE box today and resolves normally on the ONE portal. Newcomers often take these for three different carriers and go looking for three portals.

The reverse is tidier: ONE bills use ONE's own code, not the codes of the three predecessor lines. So if the bill number and the box prefix do not look related, that is normal with this carrier.

The remaining causes of a blank result are the usual ones: your number is a house bill, the bill has not been issued, a typo, or the box has not been gated in.

Reading Ocean Network Express (ONE) bill-of-lading & booking numbers

An ISO 6346 container number is four letters, six digits and a check digit. An ONE bill number is shorter and carries ONE's own letter prefix. A booking number is issued when space is confirmed and is told apart by the document it sits on.

With this carrier, the box prefix and the bill prefix not matching is normal rather than a sign of error. Boxes inherited from NYK, MOL or K-Line still carry their old prefixes, while the paperwork moved entirely to ONE's code at the merger.

The consequence when reconciling documents: do not infer the issuing carrier from the box prefix. With other lines that inference usually holds; with ONE it does not, and it is a common source of confusion during a document check.

Three fields on the face of the bill decide release: whether the consignee is named or the bill is to order, where the place of delivery sits relative to the discharge port, and the form of issuance.

Getting the electronic delivery order (e-D/O)

Step one: establish whether you are entitled to the release. Only the party named on the ONE master bill deals with the carrier directly. If you hold a house bill, your counterpart is the issuing forwarder.

Step two: reconcile the arrival notice against the document set. The consignee name and tax code on the notice, the invoice and the declaration must match. With this carrier, check the bill number one extra time — the habit of inferring the carrier from the box prefix easily produces the wrong carrier on the declaration.

Step three: clear the release conditions — surrender the original bill or have the shipment in a form that does not require one, and settle destination charges. Take the document list from ONE's Vietnam agent or from the shipment's own arrival notice.

Step four: ONE issues the electronic delivery order and passes the shipment data to the destination terminal system.

Step five: register the delivery on the destination terminal's portal. It can only match once both the carrier data and the customs data are in place.

Step six: pay, take the electronic paperwork, arrange the truck. If you are stopped, work out whether the blocker sits with the carrier, customs or the terminal before calling.

Where to find free time terms & how to request an extension

Free time is negotiated per customer and per trade, not a property of ONE. A figure on a general page does not apply to your shipment.

Where to look, in falling order of reliability: the transport contract or rate agreement if you contract with ONE directly; the terms and remarks on the booking confirmation; and the tariff reference on the face of the bill.

ONE Vietnam is easier here than most: **the local-charge schedule and the demurrage and detention tariff are published together on one page** by the Vietnam company, in dated editions. You do not have to assemble the cost picture from scattered documents — one page carries both, and you can tell whether the copy you hold is still current.

Keep the two clocks apart: one runs while the container sits in the terminal, the other once you have pulled the box out. They start at different moments and expire at different times.

One ONE-specific step that gets missed: **the empty-return order must be requested separately by email** and does not come with the delivery order. The carrier replies with the return depot. Pull the box out before that reply lands and the detention clock is running while you still do not know where to return it.

Check before the vessel arrives. The party who can request an extension is the one ONE treats as its contractual counterpart, usually whoever pays the freight; if you bought on terms where the seller pays, the request goes through the seller or the forwarder in between.

What Ocean Network Express (ONE) calls its surcharges

Surcharge names on an ONE invoice often do not match the shorthand used in the Vietnamese market. Reconcile against the code on the invoice — and note ONE's codes also differ from other carriers' for the same charge. Destination terminal handling, for instance, is **THD** at ONE where Maersk calls the equivalent DHC. Same substance, different symbol, so comparing two carriers' quotations means comparing what the charge is, not what it is abbreviated to.

ONE runs an **online surcharge-search tool**, letting you check a line yourself by trade instead of asking and waiting. It is the fastest way to verify whether an unfamiliar item on a quotation is real.

The terminal-linked group covers port handling at both ends and the documentation fee at both ends. Almost every shipment carries these.

The market-linked group covers bunker, low-sulphur fuel, container imbalance, peak season, security, and war risk where the routing passes an exposed area.

ONE shares network capacity with its Premier alliance partners on many trades, but surcharges are still published by each carrier separately. Sharing a vessel does not mean sharing a tariff, so do not reason from one partner's surcharges to another's even on the same sailing.

For each line, ask: is it inside the quoted rate or billed separately, at which end does it fall, and is it a carrier charge or a terminal charge collected on the carrier's behalf.