Extract waybills to structured JSON

Waybills document the movement of goods by air, ocean, or ground. Each transport mode has its own format with mode-specific fields for routing, charges, and cargo detail. Sensible converts waybill data into structured JSON for shipment tracking, customs, and freight audit.

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Why waybills need mode-specific extraction

Air, ocean, and ground waybills follow different standards. Consolidation adds another layer.

Mode-Specific Formatting

IATA air waybills have flight numbers and airport codes. Sea waybills reference vessel names and port pairs. Ground waybills list trailer numbers and terminal codes. Each mode gets mode-specific field extraction through dedicated SenseML configs.

Consolidation Handling

House waybills nested under a master waybill, a common freight forwarding structure. Both levels are processed with the parent-child relationship preserved, critical for consolidation reconciliation and carrier settlement.

Multi-Leg Routing Encoding

Waybills for multi-leg shipments encode routing through multiple ports and airports with carrier codes, vessel or flight numbers, and ETAs in compact fields. The sequential relationship between legs is implied by field ordering, not explicitly structured. Sensible extracts each leg with its full routing detail.

Fields we extract

Mode-specific fields ship for air, ocean, and ground. Configure the schema for your freight management system.

Routing

Origin airport/port, destination airport/port, intermediate stops, carrier code, flight/voyage number, departure date, arrival date

Cargo

Number of pieces, gross weight, chargeable weight, volume, dimensions, commodity description, HS tariff code, declared value

Charges

Freight charges, valuation charges, taxes, other charges due agent, other charges due carrier, total, prepaid/collect indicator


{ /* SenseML: waybill extraction */
  "fields": [
    {
      "method": {
        "id": "queryGroup",
        "queries": [
          {
            // Waybill number (AWB or sea waybill number)
            "id": "waybill_number",
            "description": "air waybill number, AWB number, waybill #, B/L number"
          },
          {
            // Origin airport or port
            "id": "origin",
            "description": "airport of departure, port of loading, origin"
          },
          {
            // Destination airport or port
            "id": "destination",
            "description": "airport of destination, port of discharge, destination"
          },
          {
            // Chargeable weight
            "id": "chargeable_weight",
            "description": "chargeable weight, billable weight, weight",
            "type": { "id": "number" }
          }
          // Additional fields for number of pieces, freight charges, carrier, etc.
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}
Sea Waybill

Non-negotiable ocean shipping document used when no title transfer is needed.

Air Waybill (AWB)

IATA standard air waybill for international and domestic air cargo shipments.

House Waybill

Freight forwarder-issued waybill consolidating multiple shipments under one master.

Supported waybill types

Sensible processes air waybills, sea waybills, and ground waybills. Hybrid extraction handles mode-specific conventions while deterministic rules enforce consistent output for your logistics pipeline.

By mode

Air waybills (AWB/HAWB/MAWB), sea waybills, ocean bills of lading, ground carrier waybills, multimodal waybills

By standard

IATA standard AWB, FIATA multimodal, carrier-specific formats, freight forwarder house documents

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Common Questions

Answers about mode-specific extraction, consolidation handling, and weight/dimension parsing.

Can Sensible extract charge breakdowns from waybills?

Yes. Sensible extracts freight charges, valuation charges, taxes, other charges due agent, other charges due carrier, and total charges. Prepaid and collect designations are captured.

Does Sensible extract weight and dimension data from waybills?

Yes. Sensible captures gross weight, chargeable weight, volume, number of pieces, dimensions per piece, and unit of measurement. Both metric and imperial units are handled.

What routing information does Sensible extract from waybills?

Sensible captures origin, destination, intermediate stops, carrier codes, flight or voyage numbers, departure and arrival dates, and routing instructions.

Does Sensible handle air waybills and ocean waybills?

Yes. Sensible processes air waybills (AWB), ocean waybills, and ground waybills. Each variant has a tailored configuration that extracts mode-specific fields like flight number, vessel name, or trailer number.

Do you support webhooks?

Yes. Sensible sends extraction results to your webhook endpoint when processing completes. You can also poll the API for status.

Does Sensible support human review?

Yes. Sensible flags extractions with low confidence for human review. You can configure review thresholds and workflows.

What security certifications does Sensible have?

Sensible is SOC 2 Type II certified and HIPAA compliant. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.

How long is document data retained?

Document data is stored indefinitely by default. Custom retention policies are available and can be configured for same-day deletion if needed.

Is there a free trial?

Yes. Sensible offers a 14-day free trial on the Growth plan. No credit card required to start.

How is pricing structured?

Sensible uses per-document pricing for predictable costs. No token-based billing or usage surprises. Volume discounts are available for higher throughput.

How do I integrate with Sensible?

Sensible provides REST APIs and SDKs for Python and Node.js. Most integrations take a few hours. Webhooks, Zapier, and direct API calls are all supported.

What file formats does Sensible support?

Sensible processes PDFs (native or scanned), Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX), spreadsheets (XLSX, XLS, CSV), single-page images (JPEG, PNG), multi-page images (TIFF), and email bodies with attachments.

How accurate is the extraction?

Accuracy depends on document quality and configuration. Most production deployments achieve 95%+ accuracy with proper validation rules and confidence signals.

How fast is document processing?

Processing speed depends on document size, page count, OCR requirements, and which extraction methods are used. Simple single-page documents process in seconds. Larger or more complex documents that use LLM-based extraction take longer.

Resources

Documentation Links

Docs: Insurance template quick startDocs: Validation and human reviewDocs: API and delivery options

Related insurance documents

Docs: Insurance template quick startDocs: Validation and human reviewDocs: API and delivery options