CSN cut-offs from the shipping lines

Every shipping line sets a time by which it wants the CSN for each vessel call — the CSN cut-off. Until now it reached forwarders as a poster or a table in each line's own e-mail. The CSN cut-off board at scmtr.io/cutoffs gathers each vessel call's cut-off — from the advisories lines send it, from the lists lines and ports publish, and from customs' own record of vessel calls; each call says which — with the numbers a CSN needs one tap to copy. Free, with no account. It holds only the lines and calls that have reached it, not every line's.

Every cut-off on the board is indicative, for reference only: copied from a line's advisory, read from a published list, or estimated from a line's published rule, and any of them can be out of date, misread or moved by the line without notice. The shipping line's own advisory is the only authority — confirm the cut-off with your line before you rely on it. SCMTR.io accepts no liability for a missed cut-off, a CSN filed late, or any charge, amendment or delay that follows.

What is the CSN cut-off?

The time by which a shipping line asks forwarders and consol agents to file their Cargo Summary Notification (CSN) for a vessel call. The line needs your CSN number before it files its own manifest (the SAM) for that call, so a CSN filed after the cut-off may be left for the next processing cycle — and a correction after the line's SAM becomes the line's amendment (an SAA), which lines charge for. The cut-off is the line's, not customs': it differs by line, by port and by call, and lines move it.

Where do I find the cut-off for my vessel?

On the board: search by the vessel's name, the voyage, the customs VCN (or the VCN worked out from its VIA), the rotation number, the VIA number or the port, and narrow it by port or line. The board has two tabs — Cut-off known, and Cut-off not known for calls whose line has published none — and opens on whichever holds what you searched for, so a call on the board is never hidden behind an empty tab; the line over the rows says how many calls match and under which tab. Each call has its own page at a short address such as scmtr.io/n/SNDY5, with:

the CSN cut-off in India time and the time left, which turns red in the last three hours;any other deadline the line named — SI, VGM, gate-in, delivery order;the customs VCN (the one your CSN carries — three letters, a digit, the year and six digits, for example ENR12026090629), the port's VCN, the rotation number and date, and the VIA number, each with a copy button;what customs' own public record says of the call: whether it lists that VCN with the same rotation and port, and its expected arrival (a call read from customs' record itself shows what the record lists, never that the record agrees with itself);what moved, if the line has updated the call since it was first published;the line's own advisory, as the line sent it, so you can check the page against it.

Add to calendar puts the cut-off in your phone's calendar with reminders three hours and thirty minutes before — or, for a day the line gave no time for, at 09:00 the day before and 09:00 on the day. WhatsApp sends the cut-off and the numbers to a group with the link — the message names the date, never "today", so it stays right after it is sent.

Share above the board's rows passes on the board as you are looking at it. Search a ship, or pick a line or a port, and it writes the soonest cut-offs still open as lines of text — each with its date and India time — with the link under them; with one call found, it sends that call's own page. The link itself, like any scmtr.io/cutoffs?… address copied from the browser, previews in WhatsApp as a card: the call's own pass when it finds one call, or the soonest three cut-offs when what it finds is one ship's, one line's or one port's calls. A link that finds a mixed bag, or nothing still open, shows the board's own card. A line's own page (scmtr.io/cutoffs/<line>) previews with the line's name on its own colour and its soonest open cut-offs. A filtered view of a line's page is sent as the board's address with that line picked, so that what opens is what the message lists; the Cut-off not known tab has no cut-offs to list, so its link is sent on its own.

Every card and message says the times are indicative. A list also carries the minute the board was read, and marks each call SCMTR.io read from a published list ("From JNPA's report") rather than received from the line — on the card, in the preview's text and in the message — and an estimate as an estimate. Nothing typed in the search box is ever printed on a card.

If your line has not published a call on the board, its cut-off is in the line's own advisory or on its portal. Under the board, Lines on the board lists every line with a call on it now — marked "cut-off not known" where the line gave none for any of its calls — and then names the lines with no call on the board at the moment; each line's own page keeps its published rule either way.

Where do calls the line did not send come from?

From lists that lines and ports publish. SCMTR.io reads two of them twice a day, morning and afternoon: JNPA's daily berthing reports for the Nhava Sheva container terminals (NSFT, NSICT, NSIGT, BMCT and APM Terminals' GTI — each call's vessel, VIA, line and arrival, about three weeks ahead) and Visakha Container Terminal's daily berthing report for Visakhapatnam (about four weeks ahead). Maersk India's vessel details for consol filing are added whenever a fresh sheet reaches SCMTR.io — downloaded by its team from Maersk's page, or e-mailed to the board by Maersk. Such a call says so at the top of its page — "From JNPA's report", "From VCTPL's report" or "From Maersk's published list" — with a link to the document, and it is never shown as the line's own word. When the line sends its own advisory for the call, that replaces it at the same address.

Where the list gives no customs VCN, SCMTR.io looks the ship up on customs' public vessel enquiry and adds the VCN and rotation only when customs lists exactly one call of that ship at that port within a few days of the report's arrival.

And from customs' own record: every upcoming call at an Indian port that customs' public vessel enquiry has listed for SCMTR.io — the ships filers look up, and every ship a filing, a manifest, an uploaded file or a list has named in the last month, which SCMTR.io asks customs about by itself — goes on the board too, marked "From customs' record", even where no line or list has sent it. Customs publishes no cut-off: under a line whose published rule counts from the arrival (Maersk, CMA CGM) the board estimates one from customs' arrival day, marked estimated; otherwise the call is under Cut-off not known with what to do. It sits under the line its line agent files for; where that agent acts for several lines (or is not yet tied to one) and the board holds the ship's other call under a line, under that line; otherwise under Line not known, whose page says why. Line not known is not a line: such a call's page says customs' record names no one line for it, is titled as a vessel call, is not counted among the board's lines, and is kept out of search engines. When a line's own advisory or a list brings the same call, that takes its place. It is everything SCMTR.io knows of, not every call in India.

What does "Being confirmed by the line" mean?

The line has sent the call, but something in it waits for the line's own check before it is published — a cut-off whose time could not be read for certain, say. Until the line confirms it, the board shows the ship, the line and the port only, first under Cut-off not known, with no time, arrival or VCN: none of them is confirmed yet. Your CSN's page and list, and VCN search beside the call, say Being confirmed by the line in the same way. Ask the line for its cut-off, or check the call again shortly — once confirmed it shows with its cut-off at the same address. If it is taken down instead, its page says it was withdrawn before it was published, and shows nothing it said.

Why does VCN search show more calls of a ship than the cut-off board?

Because they answer from different places. VCN search asks customs' own record (ICEGATE), which lists every call of the ship at every Indian port. The board holds only the calls a line has sent or a list SCMTR.io reads has carried — so a ship can be on the board for its Nhava Sheva call, from JNPA's report, while customs also lists its Cochin call, which no list SCMTR.io reads carries. VCN search says so beside each call still to come: On the board (with the line's cut-off, "cut-off not known", or Being confirmed by the line) or Not on the cut-off board · cut-off not known — each with what to do, "File now — ask the line" when the ship is due within three days, else "File early — ask the line".

What is an estimated cut-off?

Some lines publish a rule rather than a time for each call. Maersk's India advisory of 2 September 2026 says console agents must file the CSN "no later than ETA - 72 hours", and CMA CGM's advisory for all Indian ports of 18 May 2026 asks for the CSN number "at least 72 hours prior to vessel arrival"; Maersk's Chennai and Cochin lists print their own "ETA minus 5 days", which the board uses for the calls on those lists. For a call read from a list, the board works the cut-off out from the line's rule and the call's arrival, and marks it estimated, quoting the rule and where the line published it.

An estimate is never later than the rule applied to the arrival the list gives: it counts back from the arrival's own clock. When the list gives no arrival hour it counts from the very start of the arrival's day and gives a day, not a time — an "ETA minus 72 hours" estimate for a ship due some time on Friday reads Monday (estimated, day only): file during Monday at the latest, and earlier is safer; it goes into a calendar as an all-day entry. It moves when the arrival does, and the line's own time for the call can be earlier. An estimate worked out before 5 October 2026, when estimates were counted to the day, stands at the start of its day and is said as by the start of that day — on the page, its card and every message. Like every cut-off on the board it is indicative: file before it, and confirm with the line.

What does "Cut-off not known" mean, and what should I do?

That the shipping line has not published a CSN cut-off for that call and the board has no time for it — not that one is on its way. On 6 October 2026 that was most calls on the board (89 of 128), ships due the next day among them. Each such call says what to do first:

File now — ask the line (in red): the ship is due within three days, so it has very probably left its last foreign port already — the point by which customs wants an import CSN — or the time its line's published rule gives has passed. Send the CSN now, and ask the line whether it still takes it before its SAM.File early — ask the line: the ship is further out. File as soon as your documents allow, and ask the line for its cut-off.Ship in — ask the line: the arrival has passed; ask the line whether it still takes CSNs for the call.

Beneath it is the rule it rests on — customs' own, or the line's where it publishes one counted from the last foreign port. The board's Cut-off known view warns when ships due within three days have no cut-off known, and one press shows them. A CSN of yours whose cut-off is not known says so on your CSN list in the same words — and a CSN with no VCN yet, whose line's rule counts from the arrival, is told to add its VCN, which is what dates it.

When is a CSN due if the line gives no cut-off at all?

Customs' rule is before the ship leaves its last foreign port for India — the point CBIC's table sets for the CSN, and the one by which the line's own arrival manifest (SAM) is due too. Hapag-Lloyd's India notice of 17 April 2025, the latest with a deadline we found, asks for CSN details at least 72 hours before that departure. Two lines set the same point for house bills, in their own words — neither calls it a CSN cut-off: Emirates Shipping Line's India advisory of 5 November 2024 asks forwarders for house BLs 72 hours before it, and RCL's agents, in an undated letter on ODeX, ask for house-bill data and CFS nominations 72 hours before it at Nhava Sheva and Mundra. No list the board reads gives when the ship leaves its last foreign port, and that departure comes before the arrival in India by the length of the last leg — so for these calls the board shows the rule, not a date counted back from the arrival. A ship due within three days has probably left its last foreign port already: ask the line now. For any call, ask the line for its cut-off.

What do the lines publish about the CSN deadline?

On 6 October 2026 SCMTR.io searched for a published India CSN rule from every line it could identify on filers' CSNs (most of them; a bill of digits or an agency's containers name no line), on the lines' own pages and on ODeX, where many lines' Indian agents post their letters:

Counted from the arrival in India: Maersk and CMA CGM, 72 hours before (the estimates above).Counted from the last foreign port, 72 hours before the ship leaves it: Hapag-Lloyd for CSN details; Emirates Shipping Line, and RCL at Nhava Sheva and Mundra, for house bills (shown as a rule, never a date).Exports (SCX): OOCL India asks for the CSN number and date with the PCIN on ODeX 48 hours before the ship arrives to load (its guidelines, listed 28 July 2025), Yang Ming India 48 hours before the vessel's ETA at Nhava Sheva (effective 18 August 2025), and CMA CGM's advisory for all Indian ports — whose CSN section names no direction — 72 hours before arrival. An export CSN on SCMTR.io shows the time these give.Related, not a CSN rule: Evergreen India's import FAQ, in IGM-era wording, asks for hard copies of house-bill manifest documents 7 days before arrival, while its house-bill guidelines of September 2026 take the CSN's own files with no deadline; PIL asks for house-bill requests on ODeX 4–5 working days before arrival.None found for MSC, ONE, COSCO, HMM, ZIM, Wan Hai, SITC, TS Lines, KMTC, Interasia, Gold Star, Sinokor, Heung-A, CU Lines, Namsung, Jinjiang, Sinotrans, Vasco, X-Press Feeders, Unifeeder, Global Feeder Shipping, Cordelia, SCI or BLPL — for these the board shows customs' point and asks you to get the cut-off from the line.

Each line's page on the board quotes its rule with a link to where the line published it. Every rule here is indicative — the line's own advisory is the only authority on its cut-off, and SCMTR.io accepts no liability for a cut-off missed.

What does my CSN show when the board has no cut-off for it?

If the board holds the CSN's call but its line gave no cut-off for it, the CSN list shows the call — Cut-off not known and what to do, "File now — ask the line" or "File early — ask the line", with the rule it rests on when you hover it, a link to the call's page — rather than nothing, and the reminder for an unsent CSN links the call's page too. If the line has sent the call and it waits for the line's check, the CSN shows Being confirmed by the line, linked to the call. A call read from a published list carries no IMO until customs lists it, so SCMTR.io also finds it for your CSN by the ship's name, at your port, around the arrival customs gives for your VCN.

If the board holds no call for it: its line's rule. SCMTR.io reads the line from the CSN itself — the master bill's own letters (MAEU…, HLCU…), or, when they name no line (a bill of digits, or a line's own office code such as CMA CGM's), the container agent every box names — and shows that line's published rule on the CSN page, the form, the wizard and a checked file. Where the rule counts from the arrival, it is worked out from customs' expected arrival for the CSN's VCN and marked estimated — and that estimate also shows on the CSN list; where it counts from the last foreign port, or the line publishes none, the rule is shown with no date. On a ship several lines share, the CSN's own line's cut-off leads, and another line's is never shown as yours. It is indicative, like every cut-off here: confirm with the line.

Which VCN goes in the CSN — the port VCN or the customs VCN?

The customs VCN. A port also issues its own VCN for the same call (Kamarajar's look like INENR202600629) and a VIA number; both identify the call to the port and its terminal, not to customs. The board lists all three so you can match whichever your documents carry.

Can a vessel call's VCN change?

A VCN belongs to one call of one ship at one port. When the line substitutes the ship, the call gets a new VCN — the new ship's — and a CSN cannot be amended to carry a different VCN: what to do then is on The vessel call number (VCN), start to finish. For the same ship and port, SCMTR.io has not seen a VCN change: of 911 calls followed on customs' public record from 7 September 2026, none had its VCN replaced, and the 45 calls customs stopped listing all dropped off after the ship had arrived (no substitution among them). What does go wrong more often is picking the wrong VCN:

The ship's previous call. A ship that calls often still has last voyage's VCN listed; a CSN filed on it is on the wrong call. SCMTR.io flags a CSN whose VCN customs dates to a call already past, or the board holds under another VCN.Two VCNs for one ship at one port close together. Customs listed 15 such pairs within two days of each other, each with its own rotation number — and more a week apart, where a ship really calls twice. Match the rotation number your line gives you, not only the ship and the date.

This is a measurement of the calls SCMTR.io has followed, not a rule customs states: check the VCN against customs' record (VCN search) before you file.

How current is it?

A line's advisory is on the board soon after the line e-mails it, and each update the line sends replaces it on the same page — the link already in your group shows the new time, and the page lists what moved and when. A cut-off is published by itself only when every value read clearly, its printed time could be read for certain, and customs' record did not contradict it; anything unclear waits until the line confirms it, and an update that waits never takes the published time down.

The board shows what the line sends, and what lines and ports publish, and does not set or change any cut-off. If a time looks wrong, confirm with the line.

How does a shipping line publish its cut-off?

By e-mailing the advisory it already sends customers — the poster, a PDF or the details typed in the e-mail — to lines@scmtr.io from its company mailbox, or copying that address on the advisory. The board reads it, publishes it and replies with the call's short link to paste into the customer mail, and a desk link where the line can correct or withdraw any cut-off with no account. A line can also drop the advisory or type it on its desk (scmtr.io/cutoffs/publish).

Only the line publishes as the line: SCMTR.io verifies each line's mail domains once, publishes only mail that domain has authenticated, and sends a desk link only to a mailbox on that domain. Mail from a domain not yet verified waits for SCMTR.io's team, and its sender is told so. SCMTR.io can also publish a line's advisory for it — one that reached us another way, or before the line is set up — and the page then says it was published by SCMTR.io from the line's advisory.