Nature of Goods 
The nature of goods is a short and meaningful description of the cargo to be transported. Although you can enter the nature of goods only in business documents that are relevant for air transportation, the information is used along the entire transportation chain. The business documents (for example, air forwarding orders and air bookings) and the corresponding print documents (that is, air waybills and manifests) can contain the same nature of goods information or different information, according to your requirements.
You enter the nature of goods as free text within the allowed space on the UI, which reflects the requirements for the number of lines and characters. You can also define standard texts for nature of goods information that you use on a regular basis.
In SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM), there are two types of nature of goods:
Nature and quantity of goods
This information can be entered in air forwarding orders and air bookings. You enter it on header level on the Nature of Goods tab page in the air forwarding order and on the Operations tab page in the air booking. You can enter 12 lines with a maximum of 20 characters per line.
The nature and quantity of goods specified on the Nature of Goods tab page in the air forwarding order and Operations tab page in the air booking are synchronized with the Air Waybill View on the Charges tab page. When you modify the nature and quantity of goods information on one of the UIs, the system automatically updates the other UI. The system not only updates the UIs, but also centrally updates the nature of goods data of the air forwarding order or air booking.
The nature and quantity of goods is printed in the house air waybill (HAWB), master air waybill (MAWB), and air waybill for a direct shipment. It is used to provide additional information about the weight-based charge items in air waybills.
Nature of goods for manifest
This information can be entered in air forwarding orders, freight units, air bookings, and freight orders that cover pre-carriage or on-carriage for the air booking. You can enter 9 lines with a maximum of 65 characters per line. In the air forwarding order, you enter this information on header level on the Nature of Goods tab page. In the air booking, you enter it on item level on the Capacity and Cargo tab page, and in the freight order, on item level on the Items tab page (Generic Item View hierarchy type).
The nature of goods for manifest is printed in the security manifest and cargo manifests, which you print from the air booking.
Note that you can also enter the nature of goods on the Notes tab page of the air forwarding order or air booking. However, we recommend that you use the dedicated screen areas for nature of goods (for example, the Nature of Goods tab page in the air forwarding order).
Prerequisites
To use standard texts, you have done the following:
Assigned the text schema FWOAIRHDR to the relevant forwarding order types (Text Schema field)
Assigned the text schema CBAIR to the relevant booking types (Text Schema field)
Defined standard texts in transaction SO10 using text type ST
For information about defining your own text types for the nature of goods, see SAP Note 2006789. This SAP Note also contains information about enhancing the pushbuttons for copying the nature of goods in air forwarding orders and air bookings.
Process
You enter the nature and quantity of goods as well as the nature of goods for manifest on the Nature of Goods tab page in your air forwarding order.
You can copy the nature of goods for manifest from the nature and quantity of goods. When you do this, the system concatenates the text, but you can then adjust it as required.
The nature and quantity of goods is printed in the house air waybill (HAWB), which you print from the air forwarding order. After you have calculated the charges, you can use the Air Waybill View on the Charges tab page to align the nature and quantity of goods text so that it appears next to the correct weight-based charge items in the HAWB printout.
The nature of goods for manifest is not used to print documents from the air forwarding order, but is transferred automatically to the follow-on documents.
You create freight units (FUs).
The nature of goods for manifest from the air forwarding order is displayed in the corresponding freight units. If required, you can edit the text to create FU-specific information.
You create an air booking and you create a freight order for pre-carriage and on-carriage.
The nature of goods information is created as follows:
Nature and quantity of goods (air booking only)
You enter this information on the Operations tab page. If required, you can copy it from the air forwarding order to the air booking (Copy from Requirement Documents). If more than one air forwarding order is assigned to the air booking, the system copies the first 2 lines of text from the first 6 air forwarding orders. The text on the Operations tab page is then also displayed on the Charges tab page.
Nature of goods for manifest (air booking and freight order)
This information is copied automatically to the air booking and freight order from the freight unit. It is displayed in the details area of a freight unit that you have selected on the Cargo and Capacity tab page in the air booking or on the Items tab page in the freight order (Generic Item View hierarchy type).
For both types of nature of goods, you can change the copied text. For example, you can replace the text with something that is specific to a certain stage or country, or you can write the text in another language. You can also insert a standard text that you have defined beforehand.
You print the air waybill (master air waybill or air waybill for a direct shipment) or manifest (security manifest or cargo manifest) from your air booking.
Similar to the air forwarding order, you can use the Air Waybill View on the Charges tab page to align the nature and quantity of goods text so that it appears next to the correct weight-based charge items in the air waybill printout.
Note that when you print an air waybill or manifest from the air booking, the system uses the following logic to derive the nature of goods:
It checks the air booking.
If the air booking does not contain any nature of goods information, it checks the freight units.
If the freight units do not contain any nature of goods information, it checks the air forwarding order.
The HAWB always contains the nature and quantity of goods from the air forwarding order.
Note
You can specify the nature and quantity of goods only for weight-based charge lines under charge items with the transportation mode Air.
If there are two stages with the transportation mode Air, then there can be two charge lines in the air waybill view for the same logistical item. In order to avoid printing the duplicate charge line in the master air waybill or house air waybill, you must mark one of these charge lines as inactive in the Grouped View or Ungrouped View and adjust the amount in the other charge line manually, so that the overall charges remain the same.
The order of charge lines in the Grouped View or Ungrouped View and the Air Waybill View are not the same. In the Air Waybill View, the charge lines are sorted by the position numbers and the nature of goods lines remain as defined in the data of the air forwarding order or air booking. In the Grouped View or Ungrouped View, charge lines are sorted based on the charge line numbers and the nature of goods lines align with the air waybill view.