Arrival notice vs delivery order: the arrival notice tells the consignee the cargo is coming and what is owed; the delivery order authorizes the trucker to collect it once it is released.
What is an Arrival Notice in shipping?
An arrival notice, also called a notice of arrival (NOA), is the carrier's advance notice that a shipment is due at its destination port. It goes to the consignee and the notify party named on the bill of lading, and often to the importer's customs broker and trucker.
Who issues it
On an NVOCC shipment there are two. The ocean carrier issues one under the master bill to the NVOCC; the NVOCC issues its own under the house bill to the actual importer. The importer normally deals only with the second. Maersk, for example, aims to send its notices 24 to 96 hours before the vessel reaches the discharge port.
What it contains
- Vessel, voyage and estimated arrival date
- Port of discharge, terminal and any inland destination
- Bill of lading, container and seal numbers, packages and weight
- Consignee and notify party
- Free time, and the freight and local charges to pay before freight release
Why it matters
Free time. Import free time usually starts at discharge whether or not anyone has read the notice. The arrival notice is the importer's first chance to see the allowance and plan the pickup before the last free day. The FMC's interpretive rule lists whether and how cargo interests are told that cargo is available among the factors it weighs when judging demurrage practices (46 CFR 545.5). Arrival is not the same as availability, though: confirm discharge and release before sending a truck.
Customs. The broker uses the notice to time the entry, which should already be prepared: the ISF is due 24 hours before lading at origin (19 CFR 149.2). Cargo not entered may stay at the place of unlading only until the fifteenth calendar day after landing before it can go to a general-order warehouse (19 CFR 4.37).
Common mistakes
- Out-of-date consignee or notify party contacts, so the notice goes nowhere
- Paying charges on the carrier's notice that belong to the NVOCC's, or the other way round
- Treating the ETA as the discharge date; discharge can come days later
Airlift issues the house bill and arrival notice on the shipments it carries, and our customs clearance coordination routes it to your broker. The next document is the delivery order.
Related terms
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