The multi-modal manifest capability will allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to eventually phase out and replace the four separate manifest systems CBP uses today. ACE will standardize cargo control processing and reporting tools across all transportation modes and will provide importers, exporters, customs brokers and transportation providers with one system for moving goods into or through the U.S. using ships, trains, planes, trucks and, ultimately, pipelines.

ACE multi-modal manifest capabilities will enhance security and expedite the movement or delivery authorization of legitimate shipments by:

• Consolidating manifest, entry, reference file data and screening and targeting results via the Web-based ACE Secure Data Portal to help facilitate identification of shipments that may pose a potential risk and the “prearrival” processing of cargo, resulting in expedited movement or delivery authorization of legitimate shipments.
• Enhancing shipment tracking and screening capabilities to protect the American homeland against terrorism, as well as agricultural, environmental, commercial or criminal threats originating in commercial shipments or aboard the conveyances that transport goods into the U.S.
• Modernizing cargo release capabilities in the Automated Broker Interface and delivering new capabilities for CBP field officers and external trade partners to enhance the efficiency of business processes for CBP and the trade community.
• Providing federal agencies a single, integrated system and data repository to more efficiently control and evaluate shipments for security, commercial compliance and narcotics enforcement purposes.

ACE multi-modal manifest capabilities will be deployed in the following phases:

Rail and Sea Manifest

• Modernizes existing rail and sea automated manifest capabilities and transitions existing business rules and operational requirements into ACE.
• Brings CBP closer to realizing a fully multi-modal manifest capability that consolidates and stores manifest information from every mode of transportation within ACE.
• Offers a three-dimensional Web-based display of conveyance stowage plans, promoting enhanced cargo control based on stowage plan data that allows ACE to identify unmanifested containers that represent potential security risks.
• Provides CBP officers and authorized federal agencies with the ability to place or remove holds on cargo at the bill of lading or container level, allowing suspicious containers to be held while the balance of a shipment is processed, improving security and facilitating trade.
• Allows greater flexibility through the expanded use of commercial identifiers in lieu of CBP-assigned tracking numbers for in-bond cargo.
• Saves time by allowing trade partners to make updates to container seal information without deleting and resubmitting the entire bill of lading.
• Enables initiation and resending of manifest transactions 24 hours a day, seven days a week, eliminating the time-consuming process of calling CBP to make these changes.
• Allows a bonded carrier to maintain within the ACE Secure Data Portal both a list of trade partners that are authorized to use the carrier’s custodial bond for the in-bond movement of cargo, as well as bond-holder-specified expiration dates for authorized use of the custodial bond.
• Provides enhanced visibility of cargo status through new shipment status advisory messages and more detailed hold notifications.
• Extends the “broker download” feature to ocean and air carriers, enabling carriers to designate entry filers to receive electronic bills of lading to promote prefiling and reduce errors.

Air and Conveyance Management System

• Expands ACE multi-modal manifest processing to include air cargo.
• Enables the seamless movement and tracking of in-bond cargo across air-sea-rail modes of transportation and accommodates electronic transfer of bond liability.
• Improves, through cargo status event notifications, the trade community’s visibility of cargo as it moves through the international supply chain en route to, within or from the U.S.
• Improves split shipment bill of lading processing.
• Accommodates air cargo holds at the master, house, sub-house and simple bill of lading levels.
• Facilitates faster, more accurate cargo processing through the use of the broker download feature that allows air carriers to designate an entry filer to receive an electronic copy of the air waybill to promote pre-filing and reduce errors in the cargo release process.

Full Multi-Modal Manifest

• Establishes full multi-modal manifest processing in ACE through the inclusion of truck processing, meaning CBP and the trade community will be able to use one system – ACE – to process cargo imported by the rail, sea, air or truck modes of transportation.
• Provides faster and easier access to data by creating a common repository within the multi-modal database for the rail, sea, air and truck trade data used in import transactions.
• Facilitates faster cargo processing through modernized automated systems and reduced reliance on manual data entry by CBP field personnel.
• Provides CBP officers and the trade community additional customized reporting capabilities and enhanced access to cargo control and release shipment data within the ACE data warehouse.

Cargo Release

• Modernizes cargo release capabilities to run in ACE.
• Facilitates faster cargo processing by providing CBP officers with security screening results in ACE, streamlining the process of separating high-risk cargo from low-risk cargo.
• Provides new cargo status querying capabilities, giving trade partners visibility into cargo screening results, hold status and other government agency data requirements.
• Incorporates the informational and operational requirements of more than 40 federal agencies into ACE via the International Trade Data System initiative.
• Provides new electronic messages for other government agency data requirements, allowing the elimination of paper forms.

Exports and Mail Entry Writing System
Enables CBP to link import and export processes, bringing export cargo processing into the multi-modal manifest environment shared by rail, sea, air and truck transportation modes.

• Modernizes and incorporates the Mail Entry Writing System into the ACE multi-modal manifest capabilities.

Bonded Facilities Control

• Provides ACE capabilities to bonded facilities, including cargo control partners, terminal operators, ocean port and airport authorities, container freight stations, warehouses, Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) of international transportation providers (carriers), entry filers (customs brokers) and international pipeline operators.
• Enhances information-sharing and expands event reporting on custodial (in-bond, permit to transfer and FTZ) movements.
• Enhances ACE portal access for account inquiry and cargo status shipment advice.
• Facilitates screening and targeting of pipeline shipments.