CBP EDI 309 Customs Manifest Transaction

The EDI 309 Customs Manifest is an important EDI document to be exchanged, when moving goods cross the borders to the United states whether for export or import of goods. The EDI 309 document is issued by the freight company (or carrier), in order to provide US customs with manifest information about cargo arriving or departing, on oceangoing ships, railway trains, trucks, trailers or other types of vehicles.

The 309 Transaction Set contains information about the cargo arrival and the delivery vehicle namely:

• trip identifier;
• conveyance details;
• crew/passenger’s identifier(s);
• equipment details and shipment details;
• hazardous materials and their classification codes
• Contact persons
• Source, destination of the merchandise, in addition to ports of entry and route.

Without the provision of a Customs Manifest, customs control authorities do not accept goods for customs clearance to go through the US border.

The information specified in the Customs Manifest Transaction Set (309) must match with the goods sent to customs control.

Manifest 309 Sample Message

Here is a sample 309 message sent to the US customs agencies:

ISA*00*    *00*    *02*12AB     *ZZ*RCCECECTPP     *190512*0615*U*00300*000000021*0*T*:~

GS*AQ*12AB*CAIA1A*20190512*0615*19*X*007050~

ST*309*00019001~

M10*12AB*J***2525*******32*00~

P4*0315*20190511***1030~

LX*2~

M11*12ABG0001234*LOCATION**********12AB*************L~

N9*79*ETD**20190511*1030*TD~

N9*NR*00~

N9*CL*G0001234~

N1*SH*GOLD METAL CORP.~

N3*9876 OLD OAKWOOD RD~

N4*OAKWOOD** 30542*US***GA~

PER*IC**TE*770-550-0101~

N1*CN*LICORN INC~

N3*40 BAKERY ST~

N4*DARTMOUTH**A3B 1J9*CA***NS~

M12*54~

R4*J*SC*OAKWOOD**US***GA~

R4*5*CD*0315~

R4*6*CD*0315~

VID*NC**NO NUMBER~

N10*22*Adjustment By Radio Operator*NO MARKS OR NUMBERS****L*121092**SKD~

N10*22*CAR PARTS*SKIDS****L*0**SKD~

SE*22*00019002~

ST*309*00019001~

M10*12AB*J***2525*******32*00~

P4*0315*20190511***1030~

LX*2~

M11*12ABG0001234AA*LOCATION**********12AB*************L~

N9*79*ETD**20190511*1030*TD~

N9*NR*00~

N9*CL*G0001234AA~

N1*SH*MPC PLATING INC~

N3*1859 E 63RD STREET~

N4*CLEVELAND**44103*US***OH~

PER*IC**TE*216-881-7220~

N1*CN*LICORN INC~

N3*40 BAKERY ST~

N4*DARTMOUTH**A3B 1J9*CA***NS~

M12*54~

R4*J*SC*CLEVELAND**US***OH~

R4*5*CD*0315~

R4*6*CD*0315~

VID*NC**NO NUMBER~

N10*8*Adjustment By Radio Operator*NO MARKS OR NUMBERS****L*1670**SKD~

N10*8*CAR PARTS*NO MARKS OR NUMBERS****L*0**SKD~

SE*22*000190002~

GE*3*19~

IEA*1*000000021~

Electronic Manifest message flow

There are four main Trade ‘parties’ that need to be identified:

Carrier – a legal entity that has entered into a legal contract for the transport of goods on conveyance for a shipper.

Preparer – an organization authorized by the carrier to create a manifest in a standard data format, which is transmitted to customs by a transmitter. The preparer can be a broker, port authority, service provider, carrier agent, or another third party.

Transmitter – an organization with which the carrier or manifest prepare has entered into an agreement for the transfer of manifest data to customs. The transmitter can be a service provider, a broker, a port authority, a carrier agent, or another third party.

Broker – A person licensed to prepare documents and fulfill other legal requirements.

Below is a high-level process flow diagram for the EDI process:

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Automated Systems

Currently in the USA, there are several systems designed to automate the customs clearance of imported goods. Here are the main ones:

Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)

The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is a system through which import and export of goods are reported, and customs authorities determine admissibility. ACE has replaced the Automated Commercial System (ACS).

Automated Business Environment (ACE) is used by US Customs and Border Protection to track, control, and process all goods imported into the United States. Namely, ACE performs the following functions:

• Collection of all ship manifests and air waybill from arriving and departing vessels.
• Communication with customs brokers to receive and correct electronic declarations.
• Calculation and acceptance of customs payments from brokers
• Communication with government agencies involved in the registration of imports of products
• Selection of incoming cargo for inspection
• Build statistical reports
• Provide importers and customs brokers with information on current payments, quotas for goods and countries, government regulation measures in relation to individual countries
• History registration of companies and goods for a further selection of goods for inspection.

Automated Broker Interface (ABI) CATAIR

Automated Broker Interface (ABI) is a system by which brokers, importers, carriers, port authorities, and independent service centers send electronic declarations to customs containing information about imported goods, and can also send requests and receive answers about the classification of goods and selected quotas for the goods they are interested in. All records and entry summaries from ABI are transmitted to ACE.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) | Importer Security Filing (ISF) via EDI

For EDI there are three formats used see below links:

• Automated Broker Interface
• Automated Manifest System CAMIR filing
• Automated Manifest System X.12 filing

Most of the information on ISF can be found on the website of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in this section

EDIFACT and ANSI X12 standards for US Customs and Border Protection

The US Customs Service supports the use of EDIFACT standards. Thus, Customs Manifest can be submitted to US Customs and Border Protection in either format the EDI ANSI X12 309 or EDIFACT CUSCAR (Customs Cargo message).

In addition, the following documents can be used by carriers, terminal operators, port authorities, or service centers to provide data to and receive information from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on cargo arriving in the United States.

EDIFACT messages:

• CUSDEC (Customs Declaration Message) is a report on the cargo customs declaration. The message may contain several commercial documents used for import, export or transit purposes. The use of communication is supposed between an exporter in one country and an importer in another, also between customs administrations and between customs authorities and other government agencies.
• CUSRES (Customs Response Message) is a “customs response” message to send data from the customs authority to the sender of the original message.
• CUSCAR (Customs Cargo message), CUSREP (Customs Conveyance Report Message) are messages for the transfer of cargo manifests to customs authorities.

ANSI X12 interface transaction sets:

• EDI 309 Customs Manifest Transaction Set
• EDI 350 Customs Status Information Transaction Set
• EDI 353 Customs Events Advisory Details Transaction Set
• EDI 355 U.S. Customs Acceptance/Rejection Transaction Set
• EDI 358 Customs Consist (Trip) Information Transaction Set
• EDI 997 Functional Acknowledgment Transaction Set

Advantages of EDI for Export and Import of goods

EDI provides significant advantages in the physical distribution of goods, namely:

• The average time of customs formalities is significantly reduced.
• Facilitates the preparation of consignments for shipment.
• You can easily determine the location of the goods, the vehicle or the container.
• It is easy to determine the presence of stocks in the warehouses of the distribution network and the manufacturer.
• Always know the exact time of goods arrival at the destination;
• Significantly simplified procedures for planning, transportation, and monitoring.

CBP and EDI integration with EDI2XML

Our EDI2XML service, simplifies the process of sending and receiving EDI messages with US Customs and Border Protection. It is designed to handle EDIFACT and X12 transaction sets. Our services were designed to meet the EDI needs and budgets of companies of ALL sizes. Our team focuses on simplifying the processes, and releasing your internal teams from the burden and complexity of EDI integration. Contact us for more information.