Using pre-generated status requests in MCA and adding B/L number (for Secure Chain releases)

As soon as you as a transport company are designated by a customer to transport a Secure Chain container, a status request is generated automatically. We recommend reusing it for the pre-notification at the terminal, so that it is directly linked to the correct Secure Chain B/L. In addition, the advantage of this is that you need to fill in less information, reducing the risk of errors and saving you time.

Have you already started a status request or pre-notification?
If you have already created a status request or pre-notification yourself, MCA will try to automatically link it to the Secure Chain. This is not always possible due to the complexity of some chains. Make sure you include the B/L number in your status request or pre-notification, so that it can be directly linked to the correct Secure Chain B/L. This will prevent problems and ensure smooth handling.

 

In brief:

  1. Make use of the pre-filled status requests (only applicable to Secure Chain containers)
  2. If you have created a status request or pre-notification yourself, please follow this urgent advice:
    • Enter the B/L number into the status request or pre-notification.
    • What if I don’t know the B/L number? You can find the B/L number in the MCA shipment dashboard and copy it to your status request or pre-notification.
    • What if I cannot find a shipment for the container in question? Your transport company may not be authorised (yet). Contact your customer to resolve this.

Note:
ECT and Euromax cannot process updates. We therefore recommend that pre-notification to these terminals is only done once the status request is completely correct and green.

For inland operators and software providers with an MCA-API system link:

The new field consignmentNumber has been added to the existing handlingData object. For more details, check the and the API specifications in our Developer Portal.

 

Any problems?
Have you followed all these steps but are still experiencing problems? Please contact Portbase Customer .

In the dashboard it looks as follows:

In MCA Road:

In MCA Barge & Rail as follows:

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