An article by Flavia Buso, Product Owner End-to-End Documentation Standards, DCSA Before joining DCSA three years ago, I spent five years at Flexport, one of the early leaders in digital freight forwarding. During my first years in the company, I managed import and export operations, which gave me first-hand experience of the inefficiencies we’re trying to solve. Digitising trade documents and automating workflows isn’t just an abstract goal for me, it’ssomething I’ve seen the industry struggle with daily. That’s why the Arrival Notice standard matters so much. It targets one of the least digitised yet most critical touchpoints in the shipment journey: the notification that triggers import release. 

Why arrival notices need to change 

Arrival Notices are still largely handled as PDFs sent by email, a process that seems small but creates outsized problems. For carriers, this manual handling means: 
  • incorrect or outdated contact details that cause missed or undelivered notices 
  • no confirmation that customers actually received them 
  • thousands of hours spent generating, sending and monitoring messages manually 
  • errors and disputes caused by late or missing notices 
A DCSA-led analysis showed that for an average carrier sending around 400,000 arrival notices a month, roughly 4,000 require manual correction and follow-up. That’s about 667 hours a month spent chasing contact information of notify partners alone, or put a different way, several full-time team members dedicated to fixing what should be automated. For users, whether freight forwarders, shippers or customs brokers, the experience is equally fragmented. Arrival notices arrive in inconsistent formats and through different channels (e.g. via email or carrier web portals). Many go to unmonitored inboxes or get lost in spam filters. Each must be downloaded, matched against a bill of lading, and manually uploaded into internal systems. Even companies using Optical Character Recognition technologies to scan the data within the pdf files report high error rates. The result is missed arrival notices, storage and demurrage fees, and disputes that cost millions across the industry. 

From PDFs to APIs: How the standard works 

The new DCSA Arrival Notice API provides an API-based alternative to email and PDF workflows. It defines arrival notices as structured data, designed for automation, multi-language support, and compliance with local regulatory requirements. Carriers can send notices automatically via push endpoints, with built-in confirmation that each message is received. Customers can receive arrival notices as they become available or retrieve the data via pull endpoints and integrate directly with their TMS or ERP, eliminating manual downloads, uploads and rekeying. This shift enables: 
  • automated, structured workflows; 
  • no reliance on generic or incorrect email addresses; 
  • consistent data formats across all carriers; 
  • immediate visibility into message delivery and updates. 
In short, it turns what is now a document exchange into a data exchange. 

Laying the foundation for end-to-end digital trade 

Beyond solving an operational pain point, the DCSA Arrival Notice API strengthens the foundation for full digital documentation flows. It supports the move toward 100% eBL adoption by extending standardisation into the import process, completing the data loop that begins with booking and the bill of lading. Because the arrival notice process has no highly used existing standards and limited EDI adoption, this initiative offers a clear opportunity for rapid implementation and measurable impact. It’s a simple, high-value use case that can demonstrate the power of structured data and set the pace for wider digital adoption. 

Driving Adoption Across the Ecosystem 

With the Arrival Notice Standard now live, the focus shifts to adoption. Several early adopters, including DCSA member carriers and DCSA+ partner shippers, technology solution providersand freight forwarders have already expressed interest in piloting or begun work to integrate the standard. All supported by DCSA guidance and coordinated engagement with standard users. The value is clear. By using structured data instead of PDFs, carriers gain automation and visibility; customers gain accuracy and reliability. Together, they eliminate thousands of hours of manual work and reduce financial disputes tied to late or missing notices. This release demonstrates what’s possible when the industry acts collectively.  

The Author