ACAS - Air Cargo Advance Screening

The Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) Program went into effect on June 12, 2018, requiring the submission of advanced air cargo information on shipments arriving in the United States from a foreign location. As part of the ACAS program, participating carriers and/or other eligible parties should submit a subset of required pre-arrival air cargo data to CBP at the earliest point practicable and prior to loading the cargo onto aircraft destined to or transiting through the United States. 

ACAS messages should contain these mandatory data items -

1. Air Waybill Number

2. Total Quantity – based on the smallest external packing unit

3. Total Weight – total weight of cargo expressed in pounds or kilograms

4. Cargo Description – generic cargo descriptions should be avoided

5. Shipper Name and Address – individual name or name of business and a valid street address with city/province, country and postal code

6. Consignee Name and Address – individual name or name of business and a valid street address with city/province, country and postal code

Nova is designed to transmit ACAS messages at house bill level. User can choose to transmit all house bill messages at one click or individually for each house bill. Nova is also designed to automatically transmits ACAS, if all mandatory data elements exists along with the flight details. The messages are transmitted, only if the user has not transmitted the message manually and flight ETD is within 6 hours. Please note that user is expected to manually transmit ACAS message for any flight ETD’s, which are in past date/time.

How to transmit ACAS messages in Production

Inbound CBP messages for ACAS

ACAS messages from CBP is received at house level. Given below