diff --git a/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/billing/documents/styled-pdf.util.ts b/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/billing/documents/styled-pdf.util.ts
index 8eb90172e..b4f168e4e 100644
--- a/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/billing/documents/styled-pdf.util.ts
+++ b/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/billing/documents/styled-pdf.util.ts
@@ -121,6 +121,146 @@ export function sealOp(
   return ops.join("\n");
 }
 
+/** Hard-truncate to `max` chars (no marker — keeps dense table cells tight). */
+export function clipText(value: string, max: number): string {
+  const t = String(value ?? "");
+  return t.length > max ? t.slice(0, Math.max(1, max)) : t;
+}
+
+/** Strip HTML tags → plain text, decoding the basic entities the doc builders emit. */
+export function htmlToText(html: string): string {
+  return String(html ?? "")
+    .replace(/<br\s*\/?>/gi, " ")
+    .replace(/<[^>]+>/g, " ")
+    .replace(/&amp;/gi, "&")
+    .replace(/&lt;/gi, "<")
+    .replace(/&gt;/gi, ">")
+    .replace(/&quot;/gi, '"')
+    .replace(/&#39;/g, "'")
+    .replace(/&nbsp;/gi, " ")
+    .replace(/[^\x20-\x7e]/g, " ")
+    .replace(/\s+/g, " ")
+    .trim();
+}
+
+/**
+ * Parse a "summary tiles + one <table> + notice + signature lines" document (the
+ * marshalling / load-list layout the train-scheduling builders emit) and draw it as a
+ * styled PDF grid. Used as the Chromium-less fallback so the manifest reads as a real
+ * document, not a flat text dump. Switches to landscape when the table is wide.
+ */
+export function buildTabularFallbackPdf(html: string): Buffer {
+  const pick = (re: RegExp) => html.match(re)?.[1];
+  const title = htmlToText(pick(/<h1[^>]*>([\s\S]*?)<\/h1>/i) ?? "Document");
+  const subtitle = htmlToText(pick(/class="subtitle"[^>]*>([\s\S]*?)<\/div>/i) ?? "");
+  const metaRef = htmlToText(pick(/class="meta"[\s\S]*?<strong>([\s\S]*?)<\/strong>/i) ?? "");
+  const generated = htmlToText(pick(/Generated:\s*([^<]+)/i) ?? "");
+
+  const tiles: Array<[string, string]> = [];
+  for (const m of html.matchAll(
+    /class="tile"[^>]*>\s*<span>([\s\S]*?)<\/span>\s*<strong>([\s\S]*?)<\/strong>/gi,
+  )) {
+    tiles.push([htmlToText(m[1]), htmlToText(m[2])]);
+  }
+
+  const thead = pick(/<thead>([\s\S]*?)<\/thead>/i) ?? "";
+  const headers = [...thead.matchAll(/<th[^>]*>([\s\S]*?)<\/th>/gi)].map((m) => htmlToText(m[1]));
+  const tbody = pick(/<tbody>([\s\S]*?)<\/tbody>/i) ?? "";
+  const rows: string[][] = [...tbody.matchAll(/<tr[^>]*>([\s\S]*?)<\/tr>/gi)].map((tr) =>
+    [...tr[1].matchAll(/<td[^>]*>([\s\S]*?)<\/td>/gi)].map((td) => htmlToText(td[1])),
+  );
+  const notice = htmlToText(pick(/class="notice"[^>]*>([\s\S]*?)<\/div>/i) ?? "");
+  const parsedSigs = [...html.matchAll(/class="line"[^>]*>([\s\S]*?)<\/div>/gi)]
+    .map((m) => htmlToText(m[1]))
+    .filter(Boolean);
+  const signatures = parsedSigs.length ? parsedSigs : ["Prepared / date", "Check / date", "Authorization / date"];
+
+  const landscape = headers.length > 7;
+  const page = landscape ? PageSize.landscape : PageSize.portrait;
+  const M = 32;
+  const contentW = page.width - M * 2;
+  const right = page.width - M;
+  const ops: string[] = [];
+
+  // Header
+  ops.push(lineOp(M, page.height - 28, right, page.height - 28, PdfColor.teal, 2.4));
+  ops.push(textOp("ETHIO-DJIBOUTI RAILWAY S.C.", M, page.height - 44, 8.5, "F2", PdfColor.gray));
+  ops.push(textOp(clipText(title, landscape ? 82 : 52), M, page.height - 68, 19, "F2", PdfColor.dark));
+  if (subtitle) ops.push(textOp(clipText(subtitle, 96), M, page.height - 82, 9, "F1", PdfColor.gray));
+  if (metaRef) {
+    ops.push(textOpRight("TRAIN / SCHEDULE", right, page.height - 42, 7.5, "F2", PdfColor.gray));
+    ops.push(textOpRight(clipText(metaRef, 28), right, page.height - 58, 12, "F2", PdfColor.dark));
+  }
+  if (generated) {
+    ops.push(textOpRight(clipText(`Generated ${generated}`, 40), right, page.height - 72, 8, "F1", PdfColor.gray));
+  }
+  ops.push(lineOp(M, page.height - 92, right, page.height - 92, PdfColor.line, 1));
+
+  // Summary tiles
+  let y = page.height - 100;
+  if (tiles.length) {
+    const cols = landscape ? 6 : 4;
+    const tileW = contentW / cols;
+    const tileH = 32;
+    tiles.forEach(([label, value], i) => {
+      const col = i % cols;
+      if (col === 0 && i > 0) y -= tileH;
+      const x = M + col * tileW;
+      ops.push(rectOp(x, y - tileH + 4, tileW - 4, tileH - 4, PdfColor.shade, PdfColor.line, 0.5));
+      ops.push(textOp(clipText(label.toUpperCase(), Math.floor((tileW - 12) / 3.6)), x + 6, y - 8, 6.5, "F1", PdfColor.gray));
+      ops.push(textOp(clipText(value, Math.floor((tileW - 12) / 4.4)), x + 6, y - 20, 9, "F2", PdfColor.dark));
+    });
+    y -= tileH + 12;
+  }
+
+  // Table
+  if (headers.length) {
+    const colW = contentW / headers.length;
+    const headerH = 16;
+    const rowH = 14;
+    const cellChars = Math.max(4, Math.floor(colW / 3.9));
+    ops.push(rectOp(M, y - headerH, contentW, headerH, PdfColor.tint, PdfColor.line, 0.6));
+    headers.forEach((h, c) =>
+      ops.push(textOp(clipText(h, cellChars), M + c * colW + 4, y - 11, 7, "F2", PdfColor.teal)),
+    );
+    y -= headerH;
+
+    let shown = 0;
+    for (const row of rows) {
+      if (y < 96) break;
+      ops.push(rectOp(M, y - rowH, contentW, rowH, "1 1 1", PdfColor.line, 0.4));
+      headers.forEach((_h, c) => {
+        if (c > 0) ops.push(lineOp(M + c * colW, y - rowH, M + c * colW, y, PdfColor.line, 0.3));
+        const cell = row[c] ?? "";
+        if (cell) ops.push(textOp(clipText(cell, cellChars), M + c * colW + 4, y - 10, 6.8, "F1", PdfColor.dark));
+      });
+      y -= rowH;
+      shown += 1;
+    }
+    if (shown < rows.length) {
+      ops.push(textOp(`... ${rows.length - shown} more row(s) not shown`, M, y - 10, 7, "F1", PdfColor.gray));
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Notice (verification clause)
+  if (notice) {
+    ops.push(lineOp(M, 78, M, 54, PdfColor.teal, 2));
+    wrapText(notice, landscape ? 155 : 104)
+      .slice(0, 2)
+      .forEach((ln, i) => ops.push(textOp(ln, M + 8, 72 - i * 11, 7.5, "F1", PdfColor.gray)));
+  }
+
+  // Signatures
+  const sigW = contentW / signatures.length;
+  signatures.forEach((s, i) => {
+    const x = M + i * sigW;
+    ops.push(lineOp(x, 40, x + sigW - 18, 40, PdfColor.dark, 0.7));
+    ops.push(textOp(clipText(s, Math.floor((sigW - 18) / 3.6)), x, 30, 7, "F1", PdfColor.gray));
+  });
+
+  return assembleSinglePagePdf(ops, page);
+}
+
 /** Greedy word-wrap to a maximum character width. */
 export function wrapText(text: string, maxChars: number): string[] {
   const out: string[] = [];
@@ -141,13 +281,22 @@ export function wrapText(text: string, maxChars: number): string[] {
   return out.length ? out : [""];
 }
 
-/** Assemble a single-page A4 PDF from content-stream ops (Helvetica fonts). */
-export function assembleSinglePagePdf(ops: string[]): Buffer {
+/** A4 page sizes in PDF points. */
+export const PageSize = {
+  portrait: { width: 595, height: 842 },
+  landscape: { width: 842, height: 595 },
+} as const;
+
+/** Assemble a single-page PDF from content-stream ops (Helvetica fonts). Defaults to A4 portrait. */
+export function assembleSinglePagePdf(
+  ops: string[],
+  page: { width: number; height: number } = PageSize.portrait,
+): Buffer {
   const stream = ops.join("\n");
   const objects = [
     "<< /Type /Catalog /Pages 2 0 R >>",
     "<< /Type /Pages /Kids [3 0 R] /Count 1 >>",
-    "<< /Type /Page /Parent 2 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 595 842] /Resources << /Font << /F1 4 0 R /F2 5 0 R >> >> /Contents 6 0 R >>",
+    `<< /Type /Page /Parent 2 0 R /MediaBox [0 0 ${page.width} ${page.height}] /Resources << /Font << /F1 4 0 R /F2 5 0 R >> >> /Contents 6 0 R >>`,
     "<< /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /BaseFont /Helvetica >>",
     "<< /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /BaseFont /Helvetica-Bold >>",
     `<< /Length ${Buffer.byteLength(stream, "latin1")} >>\nstream\n${stream}\nendstream`,
diff --git a/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/train-scheduling/train-scheduling.service.ts b/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/train-scheduling/train-scheduling.service.ts
index 22dec2a37..1755a18f8 100644
--- a/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/train-scheduling/train-scheduling.service.ts
+++ b/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/train-scheduling/train-scheduling.service.ts
@@ -1625,9 +1625,9 @@ export class TrainSchedulingService {
       performedBy: 'DOCUMENT_GENERATION',
     });
     const html = this.buildImportLoadListHtml(loadList);
-    // Generic render — NOT the release-order fallback (would mislabel this as a
-    // gate-clearance / release order when Chromium is unavailable).
-    const buffer = await this.pdfDocuments.renderDocumentHtml(html, 'Import marshalling / load list');
+    // Styled table-aware fallback (marshalling grid) when Chromium is unavailable —
+    // NOT the release-order fallback (would mislabel this as a gate-clearance order).
+    const buffer = await this.pdfDocuments.renderTabularDocument(html, 'Import marshalling / load list');
     const reference = loadList.trainNumber ?? loadList.trainScheduleId;
     return {
       filename: `import-marshalling-${this.safeDocumentName(reference)}.pdf`,
@@ -1645,8 +1645,8 @@ export class TrainSchedulingService {
     }
 
     const html = this.buildExportLoadListHtml(schedule);
-    // Generic render — NOT the release-order fallback (see importLoadListDocument).
-    const buffer = await this.pdfDocuments.renderDocumentHtml(html, 'Export marshalling / load list');
+    // Styled table-aware fallback (marshalling grid) — see importLoadListDocument.
+    const buffer = await this.pdfDocuments.renderTabularDocument(html, 'Export marshalling / load list');
     const reference = schedule.trainNumber ?? schedule.id;
     return {
       filename: `export-marshalling-${this.safeDocumentName(reference)}.pdf`,
diff --git a/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/warehouses/warehouse-release-document.service.ts b/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/warehouses/warehouse-release-document.service.ts
index 1d8e3d9ea..1d02633d5 100644
--- a/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/warehouses/warehouse-release-document.service.ts
+++ b/apps/edr-freight-api/src/modules/warehouses/warehouse-release-document.service.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
 
 import { PdfRenderService } from '../billing/documents/pdf-render.service';
+import { buildTabularFallbackPdf } from '../billing/documents/styled-pdf.util';
 
 const MIN_VALID_PDF_BYTES = 2_000;
 
@@ -32,6 +33,19 @@ export class WarehouseReleaseDocumentService {
     return this.pdf.htmlToPdfBuffer(html, { label });
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Render a "summary tiles + one table + notice + signatures" document (the
+   * marshalling / load-list layout) with a STYLED table-aware fallback for when
+   * Chromium is unavailable — so the manifest draws as a real gridded document
+   * instead of a flat plain-text dump.
+   */
+  renderTabularDocument(html: string, label = 'Document'): Promise<Buffer> {
+    return this.pdf.htmlToPdfBuffer(html, {
+      label,
+      fallback: (preparedHtml) => buildTabularFallbackPdf(preparedHtml),
+    });
+  }
+
   /**
    * Render document HTML with a STYLED hand-built fallback (the release layout,
    * but with a custom title + section heading) for when Chromium is unavailable.