A Vessel Manifest is the comprehensive list of all cargo on board an ocean vessel at the time of departure or arrival. The carrier compiles the manifest from the underlying bills of lading and is responsible for its accuracy.
In the U.S., the vessel manifest is filed with CBP through AMS under the 24-Hour Rule — 24 hours before the cargo is laden at the foreign port. Upon vessel arrival, the carrier files an Arrival Manifest to formally enter the port.
Each manifest line item includes:
- Bill of lading number
- Container number and seals
- Shipper and consignee
- Cargo description
- Package count and type
- Gross weight and measurements
- Port of lading and port of discharge
Vessel manifests are partly public records. After arrival, U.S. import manifest data — but not export — is available through commercial data providers (Panjiva, ImportGenius, Datamyne) that pull from CBP and resell. This is the basis for "import data" used in trade intelligence and competitive analysis.
Shippers who don't want their shipments visible can file for Manifest Confidentiality, which suppresses shipper/consignee names from public versions for renewable two-year periods.
For air cargo, the equivalent document is the cargo manifest filed in Air AMS. For truck and rail, it's the e-Manifest in ACE.