Importer Security Filing, known as 10+2, is the importer's own advance filing for ocean cargo entering the United States. It is separate from the carrier's manifest, it is due before the container is loaded overseas, and it is the filing most first time importers discover only when their container is on hold.
The importer of record is responsible. In practice a licensed customs broker or the forwarder transmits it, but responsibility does not transfer with the keystrokes.
The deadline for a standard shipment is no later than 24 hours before the cargo is laden aboard the vessel at the foreign port. Two of the elements have a later deadline than the rest, but planning around the 24 hour rule is the only safe approach, because the vessel will not wait and the carrier will not load a container flagged do-not-load.
Cargo that is only transiting the United States, such as freight remaining on board or in transit movements, files a reduced data set.
The last two are the ones importers cannot answer without asking the supplier, and they are the ones most often filled with the forwarder's address as a placeholder. That is a filing error.
The carrier supplies the vessel stow plan and the container status messages. Nothing for you to do, but it explains the "+2" in 10+2.
They are different filings by different parties covering different data. AMS is the transport manifest filed by the carrier or NVOCC. ISF is the commercial and origin picture filed by the importer. Both are required, and satisfying one does nothing for the other. The comparison is laid out in AMS vs ISF.
CBP can assess liquidated damages per violation for late, inaccurate or incomplete filings. Beyond the penalty, the operational costs are the ones that hurt: a do-not-load message at origin, a container that misses its sailing, an examination on arrival, and the storage that accrues while it is resolved.
Filings are also scored. An importer with a history of late ISFs draws more examinations, and examinations cost time and money on every future shipment.
The information lives with your supplier, not with your forwarder. Build the ten elements into your purchase order process so the data arrives with the booking rather than after the cargo is packed. Ask for the stuffing location by name and address, not "the factory". Confirm the manufacturer, which is not always the seller. Get the HTS to six digits from someone who has actually classified the goods, using the approach in how to calculate US import duty.
If you consolidate cargo from several suppliers, each house bill needs its own consistent set, which is one of the reasons consolidated containers get looked at more closely. Our ocean freight team coordinates the ISF data alongside the booking so the two do not drift apart.
No later than 24 hours before the cargo is loaded aboard the vessel at the foreign port for standard shipments.
The importer of record. A broker or forwarder may transmit it on their behalf, but the legal responsibility stays with the importer.
CBP may assess liquidated damages per violation, and can hold or examine the cargo. The practical cost is usually the delay rather than the penalty itself.
No. ISF applies to ocean cargo. Air shipments have their own advance data requirements.
Yes, and it should be updated as soon as data changes. Filing accurately and updating promptly is treated very differently from filing late.
Importing by ocean into the United States? Talk to us about how the ISF, the manifest and the booking are kept in step.