On January 1, 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will require all commercial truck shipments containing Section 321 merchandise to file an advance electronic manifest according to Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) #18-000731.

The advance electronic manifest will require a four letter Standard Carrier Alpha Code (SCAC) issued by the National Motor Freight Traffic Association.

CBP lists three ways for an importer to file the manifest:

1. Apply for a free ACE Portal carrier account for filing online directly to CBP;

2. Contract with a third-party software vendor or manifest filing service; or

3. Develop software to file directly with CBP.

CBP provides additional links for assistance on each of the above three options, which may be found here:

https://csms.cbp.gov/viewmssg.asp?Recid=23943&page=&srch_argv=18-000731&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby=