In practice: one booking usually has several cut-offs: the CY cut-off (the full container must be gated in), the documentation or shipping-instruction cut-off, the VGM cut-off, the customs cut-off and, for LCL, an earlier CFS cut-off. Missing any one of them means the cargo is rolled to a later vessel, often with extra storage at the terminal and a new ETA.

Example: for a Saturday sailing from Shenzhen, the shipping instructions are due Wednesday at 12:00 and the container must be gated in by Thursday at 18:00. The case file lists each cut-off under the booking so the supplier and the importer work to the same dates.