Sending a CSN to the line, the CFS and your customer

Filing is not the end of the job. Once customs answers, the shipping line reconciles your CSN against its own manifest, the CFS plans around it, the consignee's broker files a bill of entry behind it, and your customer wants to know it is done. Traditionally that means opening your mailbox, attaching two files, and retyping the bill numbers into a table by hand.

SCMTR sends that message for you, from the filing itself.

It sends four kinds of message, and the difference matters to whoever opens it:

A filed CSN, with customs' answer beside it — the original job, and what most of this page is about.A draft, before it goes — the consignment as it stands, so the line or your customer can say whether it is right while a wrong container number still costs nothing to fix. It claims nothing: the subject begins DRAFT — not filed with customs, the stamp reads "Not filed yet", and there is no customs tracking link on it.A file you only checked here — a JSON dropped on the checker, which may not be a filing on this platform at all. Its mail says what customs' record says about it, read as the composer opens: accepted, with the CSN number and the CINs, where the record lists the file's filer; not on record yet where it lists nobody by that PAN; not checked where the record could not be read. Never "not filed" on the file's say-so alone.A CSN advice — the handover a shipping line keys its manifest line from, built from customs' own record of your CSN rather than from your file. Offered on the checker once customs' record has answered with a CSN number and date. See Sending the CSN details to the line.

How do I email a CSN?

Open the filing and press Email — it sits in the row of buttons at the top of the filing's own page, and in the … menu on each row of the CSN filing list.

A composer opens with three things to fill in and one thing to check:

To — the desks you are telling. Type them, paste them, or pick from addresses you have used before.Cc — anyone else who should see it. Your own address is already there and cannot be removed; see below.Note — optional. Anything you want to say above the record, in your own words.The preview — the actual message, on the right (underneath, on a phone). Not a mock-up: it is built by the same code that sends, so what you read is what the recipient gets. Your note appears in it as you type.

Press Send. The message goes immediately; there is no queue and no scheduling.

What is attached?

Two files, named exactly as ICEGATE names them, so the recipient's own systems file them correctly:

…_DEC.json — the declaration as it went to customs. Where the filing was digitally signed, this is the signed file itself, byte for byte, not a copy rebuilt afterwards.…_ACK.json — the acknowledgement customs returned, when one has been recorded. If the filing is still awaiting its acknowledgement, only the declaration goes, and the composer says so before you send.

The acknowledgement's filename carries the date ICEGATE answered, not the date you filed — so a filing sent on the 8th and answered on the 9th has an _ACK dated the 9th. That is ICEGATE's own convention, not ours.

A draft carries one file — the declaration as it stands, named the way it would be named on the wire — and no acknowledgement, because it has not been sent to anybody to acknowledge. A checked file carries that file under the name you dropped it as.

What does the message actually say?

A summary the trade will recognise — CSN number and date, reporting event, customs site, vessel, voyage call number — over one row per bill of lading, master first with its house bills beneath it, each with its date, destination, packages, weights and the cargo identification number (MCIN or PCIN) customs assigned it. A master on a consolidated filing usually has no CIN of its own; that column reads NA, which is correct rather than missing.

It reports whatever the filing's record says. If customs accepted it, the message says accepted. If customs refused it, the message says refused and how many errors — it does not pretend otherwise. If the acknowledgement has not arrived, it says the filing has gone and the answer is not back yet. A notification you can only send when the news is good is a notification nobody learns anything from.

Who is the message from, and where do replies go?

It is sent by SCMTR — the From address is the platform's, not yours, because the platform's mail server is what delivers it.

Replies come back to you. The Reply-To on every message is the address on your account, so when the line's import desk hits Reply it reaches you and not a support mailbox. You are also always copied, as a locked entry in Cc that you cannot remove — without it, a message sent on your behalf would leave no copy in your own mailbox, and "did that go?" would have no answer.

Can I paste addresses straight out of Outlook?

Yes, and that is the expected way to use it. Paste a whole To: line — display names, quotes, mailto: prefixes, square brackets, and commas, semicolons and line breaks all mixed together — and each address becomes its own entry.

Anything in the paste that is not an address is shown to you in red, and blocks sending. This matters more than it sounds. Outlook resolves contacts against its own address book and pastes only what it displays, so a line like

'imports@example-line.com'; 'Asha Example'

contains one address and one name with no address behind it. Dropping the second silently would send your acknowledgement to a shorter list than you believe you addressed. Instead it is flagged, and you replace it with a real address or remove it.

One detail worth knowing: a comma may be separating a surname from a given name (Kumar, Pradeep <imports@…> is one person), while a semicolon never is. Both are handled.

What is the link in the message, and who can open it?

Every message carries a View this CSN online button. It opens a page showing the same record the email contains, the acknowledgement explained in plain English rather than as raw JSON, and both files to download. No sign-in, no account.

Things worth knowing about it:

It is unguessable, and it expires after 30 days. Anyone holding the link can open it, so treat it as you would the email itself — forwarding the mail forwards the access.It shows the consignment record, not your whole filing. The authorised person's details, submitter codes and the full message are not on it.Each message gets its own link. Two mails about the same filing carry two different links, which is what lets you withdraw one without breaking the other.It is not indexed. Search engines are told not to list it.

It sits beside the attachments rather than replacing them, for two reasons: the files are what the recipient's system ingests, and some corporate mail filters quarantine .json attachments outright — in which case the link is the copy that still arrives.

Can I withdraw a link after sending?

Yes. The filing's page has a Sent to section listing every message sent about it, each with a Withdraw link button. Withdrawing closes that message's page immediately; other messages' links keep working.

It cannot recall the email. The message and its two attachments are already in the recipient's mailbox and nothing here can reach them. What withdrawing closes is the live window onto the filing.

How do I know whether they opened it?

The Sent to section shows how many times each message's link has been opened, and when it last was. That is a genuine answer to a question normally settled by telephone.

Two honest limits: it counts opens of the link, not whether the message was read — a recipient who reads the attachment straight out of their mailbox and never clicks shows as never opened, which is perfectly normal. And it counts opens, not openers: it tells you somebody on that message looked, not which of them.

Which filings can I email?

Arrival notifications (SCE) that have actually been sent to customs, and amendments to one (SCA) — and, since September 2026, any filing still in draft, whatever its event.

The reason is that SCE is the event the outside world acts on — the line reconciles it, the CFS plans against it, the broker files behind it. An amendment carries its own CSN and supersedes what those same people were told, so it can be mailed too, and its mail says what it is: the subject reads "amendment accepted", the text says these details replace the ones sent earlier for the bill, and the event reads "Amendment (SCA)" on the checklist as well. A deletion, a departure and a CIN update are your own housekeeping, and mailing those unprompted teaches recipients to ignore the message that matters.

That last rule is about announcing a customs outcome, which is why it does not apply to a draft. A draft announces nothing — it is a document being circulated for checking, and that is worth doing for an export or a domestic movement exactly as much as for an arrival. So the event gate applies once something has been sent, and not before.

Can I send it before I file it?

Yes. Open the draft and press Email, the same button as on a filed one.

What goes out is the consignment as it stands at that moment, attached as the declaration file the message would be sent as. There is no acknowledgement, because there is nothing to acknowledge, and nothing in the message or on its page says otherwise:

the subject begins DRAFT — not filed with customs;the stamp where a verdict would be reads Not filed yet, in plain grey rather than the green or red of an answer, and the line under it reads "as it stands today" rather than "by Indian customs";the CSN number reads None — not filed yet;and there is no "track this on customs' record" link. Customs has not been told about the bill, so the lookup would come back empty, and an empty answer reads as "customs has lost my cargo" rather than "this was never sent".

The message's page keeps its own copy of what you sent, rather than reading the draft back. That is deliberate: you will go on editing the draft, and the recipient has to be able to see what actually arrived rather than what it has become since. Once the link expires, that copy is dropped and the record of the send stays.

Sending a draft does not file it, does not lock it, and does not stop you editing it. Nothing about the draft changes.

What if the checklist still shows problems when I send it?

The message says so — to you before it goes, and to whoever receives it.

Since 23 September 2026 the composer runs the same check Sign & upload runs, on the file it is about to attach. If that check finds anything customs would refuse, a red Not ready to file block appears above Send, with the count and the first three problems in the form's own words ("Master consignment 1 › Transport equipment"), and the same block is rendered at the top of the message itself and on the page its link opens. The subject line's preview text leads with it too, so the inbox list shows it before the CSN number or the bill.

The mail is not blocked. A filer legitimately sends a broken file to a colleague to fix, and stopping that would only push the file back into a downloads folder where nothing checks it. What the check prevents is the other thing: somebody receiving the file, believing it is filable, and putting it on ICEGATE themselves. That is exactly what happened the day this was added — a file built here, downloaded, filed by hand and refused for five faults the checklist had been showing.

Three things the block never does:

It never appears over an acceptance. Once customs has accepted the filing — an acknowledgement, or customs' own record listing it — the file was filable whatever the rules here say, and the message carries no red count. The same goes for a CSN advice: customs' record is the only source of its content.It never quotes customs. These are this platform's rules, named as such; the wording is "checked against the SCE field rules — the same check SCMTR runs before a filing is signed and sent", not "customs says".It is re-read every time. The count in the message is from the file in that send, not from the preview a minute earlier, and the page re-checks on every open, so a link to a draft you have since corrected stops reporting yesterday's faults.

The same rule applies to the Download JSON and Copy JSON doors in the full form, and to Email this file on a checked file: each says how many problems are outstanding and offers the way to fix before the way out. See Using SCMTR.

Can I send a file I only checked here?

Yes. Drop a JSON on Check an ICEGATE file and there is an Email button beside the result. It carries the file, named as it was named to you, and what the check found.

Use it when the file is not yours: a console agent's CSN that came in by mail, a line's copy of something you are reconciling, a file a customer sent to be looked over. The message says what it is, and the same daily limits below apply to it.

The message's claim comes from customs' record, not from the file. As the composer opens it asks ICEGATE's public enquiry about the file's master bills (the same lookup as Check with customs), and the mail says what it found:

Accepted — the record lists a filing by the file's own PAN. The mail carries the CSN number and date customs granted and the MCIN/PCIN of each bill, says the verdict is from customs' own record (which lists accepted filings only), and attaches the handover spreadsheet and JSON the line keys from beside the file itself.Not on customs' record yet — the record lists nobody by that PAN. Said in those words: the record shows acceptances only, so the file may be in progress, refused, or filed under another port or bill date. The mail does not say "not filed".Not checked — the record could not be read, or the file's event cannot be looked up. The mail says so and claims nothing either way.

It is asked again when you press Send, so the mail can never carry a verdict the composer showed a minute ago and customs has since changed. A CSN advice is the same record written for the line's manifest desk alone.

Sending the CSN details to the line

The shipping line cannot file its arrival manifest until it knows your CSN. Most lines collect that through a portal — you log in, find the booking, and type in the CSN number and date, the PCIN, the VCN, the container ISO code, and whatever else their form asks for. Several carriers say plainly that if it does not reach them in time they will file the master bill themselves and the charges are yours.

SCMTR can send the line all of it in one message, and it does not ask you to type any of it.

How to send one

Drop your CSN on Check an ICEGATE file — the accepted one, or the amendment you filed afterwards.Press Check with customs. This asks ICEGATE's public record what it holds against your master bill of lading.If customs' record carries a CSN number and date for your filing, a button appears: Send these CSN details to the line.The composer opens with the handover already built. Add the desk's address, a note if you want one, and send.

What the line receives

Everything customs will check its own manifest line against, which is more than a portal form usually asks for:

The reference — CSN number and date, the customs site, who filed it and under which event, and the date customs holds the filing under.The voyage — the Voyage Call Number, the rotation number and date, the IMO number, the vessel, the voyage number, the carrier code, the terminal operator, and the entry-inwards date once there is one.Every bill — your master bill and each house bill under it, each with its date in both the form a person reads and the form a manifest line carries, the MCIN or PCIN customs issued it, the packages, the gross weight, the ports and the cargo type.Every container — the box number, the ISO type, the size, the load status, the container agent's PAN and its bond, with the SOC flag and the seal from your own file.The prior reference block — all eight prevRef fields, field by field, ready to be quoted. ICEGATE validates the CIN path and the CSN path separately, so both are there and the line chooses which to file under.

It arrives as a readable message, a spreadsheet the line's desk can paste into its own sheet (one row per container, with the bill repeated beside it), the same content as JSON for a system that would rather read than be typed into, and your CSN file itself. There is also a link to a page where every value is one click to copy.

Where the values come from — and why that matters

Every value on the handover is read from customs' own record, not from your file. A portal collects what the forwarder typed; if that differs from what customs holds, the line discovers it when its manifest is refused. This cannot happen here: what is sent is, by construction, what the line's manifest line is compared with when it quotes your CSN — customs has refused lines whose bill date, packages, container count or load status differed, and publishes the same check for each box's type and size (What must match).

Two things are the exception, because customs' public record does not publish them: the SOC flag and the seal. Those come from your file, and the message says so wherever they appear.

If your file and customs' record disagree on anything else, the message carries customs' values and lists the disagreements underneath — each field in words (Load status, Bill of lading date), never as a message-guide path — so the line knows what to key and you know what to amend.

When the button does not appear

You have not pressed "Check with customs" yet. Nothing is asked of ICEGATE until you press it, so there is no answer to build a handover from.Customs' record holds no filing by your PAN on that bill. Only accepted filings are listed, so the filing was refused, never sent, or filed under another port or bill number. If another party has filed on the bill, their CSN is theirs — it is never offered to you.Customs holds the filing but publishes no CSN against it yet. Check again a little later.The file is not an entry, an exit or an amendment to one. A CSN advice can be sent for SCE, SCX, SCA, SCU and SCC. A domestic movement (SCD) cannot be looked up on customs' record at all.

If customs holds a different upload of the same CSN — you amended after filing, say — the button is still offered. The CSN number and date are real and are what the line has to quote either way; the message says which version customs holds and lists what differs.

It is checked again when you send

The advice is the only message this platform sends that asserts something about customs, so the claim is never taken from your browser. Customs' record is read when the composer opens and read again when you press Send. If it cannot be confirmed at that moment, nothing goes and you are told why.

Form III — the consignee's copy for the bill of entry

Brokers still ask for a Form III: the one-page cargo declaration of the old paper IGM (Import Manifest (Vessels) Regulations, 1971), signed by the forwarder as agent, naming the IGM line and sub-line each bill sits on — the pair the bill of entry quotes. SCMTR replaced the regulation in 2019, not the habit. The app makes it from the CSN customs accepted.

On an accepted arrival notice (SCE, or its amendment SCA) with its CSN on the filing, open the filing and press Form III for the consignee under Export & share. Then:

Tick the bills for this consignee only. A Form III goes to one consignee or their broker, so nobody sees another consignee's cargo.Check the four details the CSN does not carry — shipping line, vessel name, voyage, call sign. The app fills them itself and each box says where its value came from: the line from the carrier PAN on customs' record, the container agent PAN in the CSN, or the four-letter carrier code that starts the master B/L (HLCU is Hapag-Lloyd); the vessel name from the vessel register by its IMO number; the voyage from customs' record; the call sign from the ITU ship station register, by the vessel's MMSI. A call sign follows the flag, so it can differ from an old bill's. Correct any of them; everything else is read from the accepted CSN and cannot be changed.Print, download the PDF, or Email this Form III.

Where the IGM line comes from

From customs' own record, never from the CSN. The line and sub-line numbers in your CSN are your own numbering, not the shipping line's. Until the line's manifest is on customs' record, the bill shows Awaited on the form, and the date the record was last read is printed beside it. Send the copy again once the number appears.

What the e-mail carries

The PDF and a short covering note listing each bill and its IGM line. It does not attach the CSN file or the acknowledgement. Its View online link shows that Form III and its PDF, and nothing else from the filing. If the CSN is later moved off the filing, the link says the copy was withdrawn and offers nothing. The same address book, daily limit and Sent list apply as for every other message here.

Where are my saved recipients, and can my colleagues see them?

Every address you send to is remembered automatically — there is nothing to save — and offered back as a suggestion next time, most recently used first.

That list is yours alone. Nobody else in your organisation sees it, and no other organisation can reach it at all. A recipient list is effectively a customer list, and it is treated as one.

Where the name beside an address clearly belongs to a person, it is kept as a first and last name as well as in full — so you can find a contact by surname alone, in the composer or in settings, without remembering which address they use. A name that is plainly an organisation's ("Maersk (India) Pvt Ltd") is kept whole and given no first or last name, because splitting it would file it under a first name of "Maersk". Names of three or more words are left whole for the same reason: there is no way to tell a two-part given name from a two-part surname, and a wrong guess is worse than none.

You can review, correct and remove entries under Settings → Mail recipients — editing the first and last name also changes the name that appears on the next message you send to them. Removing one only stops it being suggested; it does not change any message you have already sent.

The address book beside it — Settings → Address book, holding parties, vessels and item templates — is a different thing: that one is your organisation's shared filing data, and every member sees it.

Is there a limit on how much I can send?

Yes, two of them:

Up to 25 addresses in To and 25 in Cc on a single message.Up to 200 recipients per organisation in a rolling 24 hours. If you reach it, sending is refused with a message saying how many have gone, and the allowance frees up as the earlier messages age past 24 hours.

The daily ceiling exists because the platform's outgoing mail allowance is shared with the sign-in emails everyone depends on. If you need to notify more desks than that in one day, send what you can and forward the rest from your own mailbox — the two files are downloadable from the filing at any time.

It says no mail server is configured — what does that mean?

That the environment you are using has no outgoing mail set up, which is normally only true of a local or test installation. Nothing can be sent from it. On the live platform this message does not appear; if you see it there, it is worth reporting.

What if the message will not send?

"No email address in …" — one of the entries you pasted is a name rather than an address. Replace or remove the red entry."Add at least one recipient in To" — Cc alone is not enough."The mail server refused the message" — nothing was sent and nothing was recorded, so simply try again in a moment. If it persists, report it.The declaration and acknowledgement are too large together — over 15 MB of attachments is refused rather than bounced by the recipient's mail server. Download the files from the filing and send them another way.

Related

What happens after you file — statuses, acknowledgements and what each outcome means.Who else files against your cargo — why the line's own filing interacts with yours.Identifiers and tracking — what the CSN, MCIN and PCIN in the message are.