Second series of improvements to Vessel Notification 2.0

We have finished implementing a second series of improvements to Vessel Notification 2.0. These ‘quick wins’ are being realised in close cooperation with the port authorities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam as the owners of Vessel Notification 2.0. During recent visits to agents, they compiled an inventory of areas for potential improvements to the digital notification process. The new quick wins available to you online are:

• Submit ETA or first Entry in EU as you do in ENS Notification
• Only valid Customs office choices will be possible
• Date and time of Previous Ports will be automatically copied
to Security screen

IMPROVEMENTS TO ‘VISIT TO PORT AUTHORITY’ TASK
• Submit ETA or first Entry in EU as you do in ENS Notification
The field for ‘ETA of first entry in EU’ (date and time) has been renamed ‘ETA of first entry in EU reported as on ENS’. We have done this to make the difference between this field and the ‘ETA pilot station’ requested slightly higher up on the screen more obvious for you.

Which information should you enter?
In the field ‘ETA of first entry in EU reported as on ENS’, you will need to fill in the ETA as it is listed on the ENS declaration that was submitted before the container was loaded onto the ship in the port of loading.

An example:
• The ENS declaration indicates an ETA in Rotterdam on 20 March;
• During the trip, however, it becomes apparent that the ship’s ETA
will be 24 March instead;
• In Vessel Notification 2.0, in the field ‘ETA of first entry in EU
reported as on ENS’, you will still enter 20 March.

That way, the information in the ENS declaration will be the same as that in the Customs notification of expected arrival in the EU. This will allow Customs to match each cargo declaration to the appropriate vessel visit.

Additional verification
You will only complete the ‘ETA of first entry in EU reported as on ENS’ field if the last port visited by the vessel (immediately prior to arrival) was outside the EU. If the last port the vessel visited was inside the EU, you will leave the field blank. From now on, this information will be automatically verified in Vessel Notification 2.0. You will be notified if the field is not completed correctly, as described above.

• Only valid Customs office choices will be possible
In the section on ‘Next Ports’, for the ‘Customs office’ field, your choices will now be limited to a list of valid Entry offices for the country in question. This will prevent you from submitting an invalid entry in this field, which would cause Customs to reject your notification.

IMPROVEMENTS TO ‘SECURITY INFORMATION’ TASK
• Date and time of Previous Ports will be automatically
copied to Security screen
From now on, the arrival and departure data for the ‘Previous port’ that you entered in the ‘Visit to Port Authority’ task will be automatically copied to the ‘Previous port facility’ field within the ‘Security Information’ task. You will therefore only need to enter this arrival and departure information once.