LA/Long Beach Import Checklist Vessel Arrival to Delivery

The ISF importer, or its authorized agent, must file the Importer Security Filing for ocean cargo "no later than 24 hours before the cargo is laden aboard the vessel at the foreign port."

The ten importer elements are seller, buyer, importer of record number, consignee number, manufacturer or supplier, ship-to party, country of origin, HTSUS number, container stuffing location and consolidator. The last two may be filed later, "as early as possible" and "in no event later than 24 hours prior to arrival in a United States port (or upon lading at a foreign port that is less than a 24 hour voyage to the closest United States port)."

The +2 in 10+2 is the vessel stow plan and container status messages, which the ocean carrier files.

Update the filing if information changes before the goods arrive, and withdraw it if the goods will no longer be imported. Bulk cargo is exempt.

Source: 19 CFR 149.2 (opens in a new tab); 19 CFR 149.3 (opens in a new tab); CBP: Importer Security Filing 10+2 (opens in a new tab)

Confirm who will file your entry, usually a licensed customs broker, and send the commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading before the vessel arrives.

Entry documents may be submitted before arrival. CBP does not require an importer license, but other federal agencies may require licenses or other approvals for some commodities; ask your customs broker which apply to your product.

Source: 19 CFR 111.1 (opens in a new tab); 19 CFR 142.2 (opens in a new tab); CBP: Tips for New Importers and Exporters (opens in a new tab)

Match the container numbers, bill of lading number, consignee, vessel and discharge port on the arrival notice to your purchase order and ISF.

The ocean carrier or NVOCC sends the arrival notice. Ask for it to go to your customs broker and your drayage provider as well.

Merchandise must be entered within 15 calendar days after landing from the vessel.

If entry is not made in time, CBP may take custody and send the goods to a general order warehouse at the consignee's risk and expense.

When the entry summary is not filed at the time of entry, it is due within 10 working days after entry.

Source: 19 CFR 142.2 (opens in a new tab); 19 CFR 142.12 (opens in a new tab); 19 CFR 127.1 (opens in a new tab)

Get confirmation from your customs broker that CBP and any other agencies with jurisdiction have released the shipment.

A customs release is one of several holds that must clear. The ocean carrier and the terminal can also hold a container, for example for unpaid charges.

Source: CBP: Tips for New Importers and Exporters (opens in a new tab)

CBP has the right to examine any imported shipment, and the importer bears the cost of preparing the cargo for exam.

A selected container is generally drayed to a Centralized Examination Station (CES), a privately operated facility where cargo is made available to CBP officers. The CES devans and reloads the cargo, and there are costs for drayage to and from the exam site and for storage.

Build exam time into delivery dates and free-time planning.

Source: 19 CFR 118.1 (opens in a new tab); 19 CFR 151.6 (opens in a new tab); CBP: Tips for New Importers and Exporters (opens in a new tab)

The ocean carrier or NVOCC releases the freight once its charges are paid and the bill of lading terms are met, such as surrender of the original bill or an express or telex release.

The delivery order tells the terminal and the drayage carrier who may pick up the container and where it is going. Send it to your drayage provider as soon as it is issued.

Check the terminal's own system for the container's availability, location and holds before booking a pickup.

A container is not available until it is discharged and every customs, carrier and terminal hold has cleared. The container availability date is one of the fields a demurrage invoice for an import must show.

Source: 46 CFR 541.6 (opens in a new tab)

Free time is the period set in the terminal schedule, or in the carrier's tariff or your service contract, before demurrage or storage charges begin.

Write down the free-time start date, the last free day and who set them. Terminal free time and the ocean carrier's equipment free time can run on different clocks.

The FMC considers whether demurrage and free time relate to cargo availability for retrieval when it reviews whether practices are reasonable.

Source: 46 CFR 525.1 (opens in a new tab); 46 CFR 545.5 (opens in a new tab); FMC: Detention and Demurrage (opens in a new tab)

Your drayage carrier needs an appointment at the terminal to pick up the container.

Each terminal sets its own appointment rules and windows. Share the container number, release status and last free day with your drayage provider early so an appointment can be secured before free time runs out.

Source: PierPass (opens in a new tab)

Two port-complex fees apply to most loaded containers at LA/Long Beach: the Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF) and the Clean Truck Fund (CTF) rate.

The TMF funds the terminals' OffPeak shifts and is managed by PierPass. The CTF rate is paid by cargo owners or their agents on loaded containers handled by truck, with collection managed through PortCheck. Register in advance so neither fee holds up pickup; current amounts are set by the program operators, so check their sites.

Source: PierPass (opens in a new tab); Port of Los Angeles: Clean Truck Fund Rate (opens in a new tab); Port of Los Angeles Tariff No. 4, Section 20 (opens in a new tab)

Tell your drayage provider whether the receiver will live unload or needs the container dropped, and whether freight is palletized or floor-loaded.

Share the receiving appointment, dock or no dock, and any site rules. A drop keeps the container longer, which matters for per diem.

Return the empty container to the location the ocean carrier designates before the carrier's free time on the equipment ends.

Charges for keeping the carrier's container, including what the industry calls per diem, fall under the federal definition of demurrage or detention.

Keep the terminal interchange receipt for the empty return. It is the record of when the container came back.

Source: 46 CFR 541.3 (opens in a new tab)

Federal rules require a demurrage or detention invoice to be accurate and to contain specific information, and missing required information eliminates the billed party's obligation to pay that charge.

• Identifying details: bill of lading and container numbers, and for imports the port of discharge.
• Timing: invoice and due dates, allowed free time, free-time start and end dates, the container availability date for imports, and the dates charged.
• Rates: the total, the tariff or contract rule and the rate applied.
• Disputes: a contact, a link to the mitigation or refund process, and the deadlines.

The billing party must issue the invoice within 30 calendar days after the charge was last incurred, and must give the billed party at least 30 calendar days to request mitigation, refund or waiver.

On September 23, 2025, the D.C. Circuit set aside only 46 CFR 541.4, the section on who may be invoiced. The FMC stated the rest of Part 541 remains in effect, and the section was formally removed in December 2025.

Source: 46 CFR 541.6 (opens in a new tab); 46 CFR Part 541 (opens in a new tab); FMC notice on the D.C. Circuit decision (opens in a new tab); 90 FR 60579 (Dec. 29, 2025) (opens in a new tab)