The Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) has published its Arrival Notice 1.0.0 Standard, introducing a universal API to replace the current fragmented, manual processes for distributing arrival notices.

An Arrival Notice is a critical document issued by a carrier to the notify party, consignee or their agents, confirming that cargo is due to arrive at the designated port or terminal. 

As a trigger for release and delivery processes, the Arrival Notice plays a central role in import operations, and yet, today, these notices are typically distributed as PDFs by email, leading to errors, delays, and costly disputes across the supply chain.

DCSA noted that carriers face high workloads and limited visibility, while consignees struggle with inconsistent formats, missing updates, and heavy manual processing.

The new DCSA standard defines arrival notices as structured data that can be exchanged machine-to-machine via API. It is designed for global use, supporting multiple languages and country-specific content requirements while maintaining a consistent data model.

"By replacing PDFs with structured data, the standard enables automatic confirmation of receipt, reduces manual rework and monitoring, and removes inconsistencies across carriers and geographies," DCSA said in a statement.

"It simplifies system integration, improves timeliness and accuracy, and helps reduce financial disputes on storage, detention and demurrage charges caused by late or missing Arrival Notices," it added.

DCSA, a neutral, non-profit industry group that develops digital standards for global container shipping, was founded by major ocean carriers including Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Evergreen, Yang Ming, HMM and ZIM. 

Flavia Buso, end-to-end Documentation product owner at DCSA said arrival notices are one of the most widely used documents in shipping, but until now they lacked a standard digital format. "With this standard, we provide the industry with a consistent, automated way of sharing arrival notices that works globally while accommodating local requirements. It is a practical step that delivers immediate efficiency gains for container shipping."

The Arrival Notice standard extends DCSA's standards into the import process, supporting the industry's broader digitalisation goals, including 100% electronic bill of lading adoption.

Iker Echave, head of standards at DCSA, added: "The Arrival Notice is the foundation over which we will continue to standardize the import release process, which is currently more fragmented and unstructured than the export."

"Each new standard strengthens the digital foundation for global trade. By replacing one more of shipping's heavily manual processes with machine readable data, the industry takes another clear step towards a digital and automated documentation framework end to end," he said.

The Arrival Notice 1.0.0 Standard is available on the DCSA website and open for adoption by all industry stakeholders.

Earlier in November, DCSA has also launched Identity Exchange; a digital solution designed to simplify and enhance business identity verification across the shipping and logistics industry.