Improved Cargo Security, Expedited Cargo Processing and Trade Facilitation

• A consolidated view of rail and sea shipment manifest and entry data at the bill of lading or container level will facilitate the identification of shipments that may pose a risk and expedite the prearrival processing of legitimate cargo.
• A three-dimensional view of conveyance stowage plans will allow unmanifested containers to be quickly identified.
• Officers will be able to place or remove holds at the container level, allowing suspicious containers to be held while the balance of a shipment is processed.

Faster and Easier Access to Data

• The ACE Secure Data Portal will provide CBP officers with integrated entry, manifest and risk assessment information for rail and sea shipments that is needed for informed cargo processing decisions.

Improved Communications

• ACE will provide enhanced visibility of cargo status through new shipment status advisory messages and more descriptive hold status notifications.
• Beneficial event reporting will enable officers to provide notifications when bonded cargo arrives at or is exported from its destination.
• An electronic messaging service will allow CBP to broadcast messages to and request information from the trade community.
• ACE will streamline the process for placing or removing holds by other government agencies.

Greater Flexibility and Time Savings

• Carriers will have the option to use their own commercial identifiers instead of CBP-assigned tracking numbers for in-bond cargo control.
• Trade partners will be able to update container seal information without needing to delete and resubmit the entire bill of lading.
• Initiation and resending of manifest transactions 24 hours a day, seven days a week will eliminate the time-consuming process of calling CBP to make these changes.

New Features

• "Broker download" will enable carriers to send a copy of the shipment record to a customs broker via Electronic Data Interchange, enabling the broker to verify and match the shipment information to the entry information and thereby facilitating the reconciliation of information needed for timely cargo processing.
• CBP and the trade community will be able to generate customized reports for specific business needs.
• Automated validation of bonded carrier identification will ensure the appropriate use of a carrier’s custodial bond and reduce the risk of penalties.