Containers in, clients on the 20th
The business is an international freight forwarder based in Auckland. It brings its clients’ goods into New Zealand by sea and gets the containers released at this end.
At sign-up, the owner explained to the FundTap team that the clients paid on the 20th of the following month. The Australian agents are different: they pay to Australian terms, shortly after the end of the month.
Either way, the money for a shipment arrives well after the shipment does.
The shipping line wants paying first
Money goes out of a forwarder’s account at fixed points. The shipping line has to be paid when the vessel arrives, or it won’t release the containers. The New Zealand suppliers are paid around the 20th.
The clients’ money comes in on the 20th of the month after. So a busy month of container imports means a run of shipping-line payments up front, with the invoices for all of it not due until well into the next month.
When they signed up in January 2026, the owner told the FundTap team that a busy month of container imports was hard on the cashflow.
Funding the import invoices
They signed up in January 2026 and funded eight invoices in that first month.
The owner picks the invoices to fund and sees the fee on each before committing. The clients pay the business on the 20th of the following month as they did before, and the Australian agents on their own terms.
Released as the vessel arrives
With the import invoices funded, the shipping line can be paid when the vessel arrives and the containers released to the clients, busy month or not. The New Zealand suppliers get their payment around the 20th without the business waiting on its own clients’ 20th.
July 2026 was their busiest month, with 29 invoices funded.
Their funding limit was raised in May 2026 and again in August 2026. They’ve funded 138 invoices since January 2026, 11 of them in September 2026, and pay only on the ones they fund.
The timeline
- January 2026 Signed up, with the shipping lines paid on arrival and the clients paying on the 20th of the month after.
- January 2026 Approved and funded their first invoices, eight in that first month.
- May 2026 Funding limit raised for the first time.
- July 2026 The busiest month so far, with 29 invoices funded.
- August 2026 Funding limit raised again.
- September 2026 Funded 11 more invoices, the most recent in the records.
In numbers
- 20th of the month after: when the clients pay
- 138 invoices funded since January 2026
- 29 invoices funded in July 2026, the busiest month
- 2 increases to their funding limit, in May and August 2026
Sound like your business?
The vessel’s in, the shipping line wants paying now, and your clients pay on the 20th of next month. Fund the invoice and get the containers moving.
You did the work. Don’t wait until the 30th to get paid.
Invoice finance for transport and logistics • All case studies
