What do ISF and AMS filing mean for ocean freight America?

What is ISF?
ISF stands for Importer Security Filing and applies to ocean freight to the United States. ISF, also known as 10+2, is a regulation that requires importing parties in the United States to declare (or have declared) general specifications of the goods to be imported to U.S. Customs. Depending on the agreed incoterm, the (Dutch/Belgian) exporter or the importer in the United States is obliged to provide this information to the U.S. customs authorities no later than 24 hours before loading the goods on board the ship.

This information includes the name and address of the manufacturer, exporter, seller and buyer, delivery address in the United States, location where the container is consolidated, country of origin of the goods and the statistical number.

What is AMS filing?
AMS stands for Automated Manifest System and applies to ocean freight and air freight to the U.S. and Mexico. In connection with the reduction of security risks, U.S. Customs has to know 24 hours before the ship leaves the port of loading what has been loaded on board. This filing applies to goods with final destinations America or Mexico and also applies to goods that are transhipped in these two countries.

For Dutch and Belgian exporting parties to the United States, this means that they are obliged to report what they are going to export to the United States well before departure of the ship at the port of loading. Shipping companies thus use so-called AMS closures for this purpose. If shippers do not submit their B/L instruction in time for the AMS closing, the containers will not be loaded on board. Naturally, our specialists are happy to help you with your shipments to America and Mexico and will work with you to ensure that these security requirements are met. For more info contact us directly.