Why is my container held?
Why is my container held? Reading Bills and containers
A container is not discharged to you until the shipping line's manifest carries your bill of lading and agrees with your Cargo Summary Notification on it. A forwarder usually learns that something is wrong from a phone call, days after the ship arrived. Bills and containers — on each vessel call's page — shows the filing side of that question for every bill and every container of yours on the ship, with the one next step for each.
What does each status mean?
Worst first, which is the order to read a board in:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| CSN not on record | Your CSN was accepted, and customs' public record does not list it now — or it was withdrawn by an accepted deletion. |
| CSN not accepted | The CSN is still a draft, was refused, or has been sent and not answered. A manifest line cannot be matched to a CSN customs has not taken. |
| SAM disagrees | The line's SAM carries your bill, quotes your CSN, and differs on something customs has refused filings for — the bill date, packages, the number of containers or a load status. Each difference is shown with both values, marked Fix. |
| SAM differs — check | The line's SAM carries your bill and differs only on fields that should match but that customs has not been seen refusing (a container type, a weight, a port) — or it carries the bill itself rather than quoting your CSN, where nothing is refused. Each difference is marked Check. Worth a look; not a refusal waiting to happen. |
| Waiting on the line's SAM | Your CSN stands, and customs' record does not show the bill on the shipping line's manifest yet. |
| Nothing open | The manifest carries the bill, and nothing customs' record holds disagrees with your CSN for that container. A difference customs allows (the first Indian port, the line's own bond) does not count. |
On an export CSN (SCX) the words are the departure manifest's: SDM disagrees, Waiting on the
line's SDM, and an amendment is an SDA rather than an SAA. A call carrying both reads SAM / SDM.
Does "Nothing open" mean my container will be discharged?
No. It means that on the filing side — your CSN and the line's manifest, as customs' public record showed them at the last check — nothing is outstanding for that container. Discharge is still customs' and the terminal's to allow: entry inward, examination, holds and the terminal's own processes are outside what this page can see.
What does "SAM disagrees" compare?
Every field customs' record lets the two be compared on, sorted into the same three groups the rest of
the app uses — Fix, Check and OK to differ (What must match
lists them all). Customs has refused a bill date that differs (164), mismatched packages (232), a
different number of containers (233) and a load status unlike the quoted CIN's (399); those are
Fix, and only where the line quotes your CSN. A container size that differs has drawn 398 on the
line's SAA (October 2026); for your CSN it is a check, since customs checks size on the manifest only. Check each difference against the bill of lading first: whichever filing disagrees
with the paper is the one to amend. If your CSN is right, the shipping line amends its manifest line;
if theirs is, you amend your CSN while the window is still open, then give the line the amended
CSN and MCIN/PCIN so it can file a matching manifest amendment (SAA) — the order ICES Advisory
37/2026 (18 September 2026) sets once a manifest exists; after Sea Entry Inwards both need the
jurisdictional customs officer's approval. See
Two companies, one master bill of lading.
Why does a bill say "not looked up"?
The background check asks customs about the first master bill on each CSN. A second master bill on the same CSN has not been asked about, and the board says so rather than reading silence as absence. Look it up on BL tracking if you need it.
How sure is "CSN not on record"?
It is said only after customs' record has had time to catch up — an accepted CSN normally appears within minutes, and the board allows two hours before treating absence as anything — and the watch asks customs a second time before it alerts you. It is still a reading of a public record at a moment. Before acting on it, look the bill up yourself on BL tracking, and see My CSN was deleted or has left customs' record.
What do I send the shipping line?
Once your CSN is accepted, each bill offers a short message for the line with exactly what their manifest line must quote — the CSN number and date, the bill and its date, packages and containers — ready to copy. It is offered where the next step is the line's — to add your bill, or to amend its line to match your CSN — and carries the figures the line should key. Where the line's manifest differs, Open a case with the line beside the difference starts a case on that bill (see Vessel calls), so the conversation and the evidence stay in one place.
Better still, send a CSN reference card: a link that shows the line the reference and the cross-checked fields — including each box's SOC flag and seal — and nothing else of your filing. The line can paste its reference block straight into its manifest line, and drop its manifest file back on the card to compare every field with yours; what that comparison found is shown to you on your filing's Handshake links page beside the file they sent. The line can also answer on the card — quoted, amended, or "our figures are right" — and you get a Reply from the other side alert; see Vessel calls. WhatsApp beside each link sends it where the line's desk already talks. A CSN confirmed from customs' record rather than by an acknowledgement gets a card too, with the MCIN or PCIN customs' record lists.
How current is the board, and can I be told instead of looking?
Each bill shows when customs' record was last read. The watch runs in the background for every CSN of yours on a call that is about to arrive or has arrived, and raises an alert when a bill is not on the manifest with the ship two days out, when the manifest disagrees with your CSN, when a CSN leaves the record, and when the manifest (or an accepted amendment) now carries your bill.
Related
- Tracking your cargo — the three questions that sound like oneWhat customs already holdsCustoms refused my manifest — which bills, and why? — the line's side
This page is for information. Customs decides what it accepts and releases — confirm anything that matters with customs or ICEGATE.
Still stuck on this?
The assistant answers from this exact page and the rest of our reference material, and names the documents behind every answer.
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General information only — not legal or customs-compliance advice, and it may not reflect the most current ICEGATE/CBIC requirements. Verify against the official sources, or a licensed customs broker, before filing.