What information is available from PIERS?
PIERS offers a wealth of trade information including:
- Product Description (as shown on bill of lading or manifest)
- Name and Address of U.S. Importer
- Name and Address of Foreign Shipper
- Harmonized Tariff Code and Description (assigned by
PIERS, not copied from ship documents)
- U.S. and Overseas Port Name
- Container Size, Quantity and TEU Count
- Steamship Line and Vessel Name
- Cargo Quantity and Unit of Measure
- Cargo Weight and Volume
- Voyage Number
- Estimated Cargo Value
- Marks and Numbers
- Bill of Lading Number
- Container Number
- Customs Clearing District
- Name and Address of Notify Party
- Arrival Dates in U.S. Ports
- Shipment Direction
- PIERS Product Code
How often are reports produced?
Reports can be produced on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.
Is historical data available?
Yes, historical data is available dating back to 1970's.
Does PIERS have information on air, truck and rail shipments?
U.S. law prohibits public release of shipping documents for international and domestic truck and rail transactions. On July 2, 1996, legislation was passed that makes air manifests public information. However, as of September 1997, U.S. Customs has not completed regulations to disseminate this information.
Does PIERS have the names of companies involved in each shipment?
On products imported to the United States, PIERS provides the name of the exporter in the country of origin and the U.S. consignee (receiver) along with the notify party.
For shipments from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and the world, company names for both importer and exporter are available in PIERS' Latin American Database. (Foreign company information is not available in data from Brazil and Chile.)
Why are companies located in certain foreign countries shown as the shipper or receiver?
When shipments are trans-shipped through a U.S. port, documents from U.S. Customs include information about the location of the original shipper (export data) and final consignee (import data). These countries are noted in the state field when a PIERS-generated two letter abbreviation is available. These abbreviations are provided for Canadian provinces and selected Caribbean countries. These companies may also be the control point for the shipment.
Why are NVOCCS listed in PIERS?
These companies provide a service of consolidating less than container load shipments for importers and exporters. Their name may be recorded as a shipper or consignee on a bill of lading or ship manifest because of their involvement with the shipment.
Does PIERS contain the actual origin city of imported goods and the destination city of exported goods in each country?
A foreign origin or destination city can be found in the field called ULTPORT. The quality of this information is dependent upon the contract between the shipping company and the import or export company. When the ship line is responsible for transporting the goods from the origin or to the destination city, the information will appear in this field.
Why is XX sometimes listed in the state field?
If just a company name appears with no address information on a shipping document, PIERS inserts XX in the State field. In this case, the Street and City fields remain blank.
Why is ZZ sometimes listed in the state field?
When a State field contains ZZ, the bill of lading (export data) or the vessel manifest (import data) listed a foreign address as the location of the shipper or consignee. PIERS inserts ZZ in the State field when we do not have a two letter abbreviation for the country.
Are trade names listed in PIERS as commodity descriptions?
When shipping documents contain trade names, PIERS makes them available. Our staff is instructed to copy the product description, within 35 characters, directly form shipping documents. Sometimes, however, manifests provide very general descriptions without brand names or model numbers. For example, a television set may be described as 13-inch Hitachi color TV or just as TV.
Does PIERS have the value of cargo?
PIERS is restricted by U.S. Customs Regulations from copying the declared value of cargo from shipping documents.
However, averages, based on an extrapolation of product category information from the U.S. Department of Census, have been calculated to determine shipment values, which can be used by customers who require an estimated cargo value. This information is stored in the VALUE field.
Precise government figures can be obtained in a separate product from PIERS. FAS values and quantities for imports and exports segmented by each mode of transportation are obtained from the U.S. Department of Census for each 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Code. Company names are not available in these reports.
How are the labels ZZZZ and bulk for ship lines defined?
The label ZZZZ means the ship line is unknown because the vessel has different charter parties for each voyage and is not a regularly scheduled liner service. BULK denotes any ship line that does not have a ship line code for the same reason and is carrying large quantities of one or two commodities as its entire cargo. The name of the vessel is available from PIERS to cross-reference with the Lloyds register.
What does ZZ denote in the container size field?
When this field is filled with ZZ, the size of the container is unknown. In this case, the TEU calculation is derived from a reference table on prior shipments of the same weight, product and trade lane.
How are units of measure defined in PIERS?
The unit of measure describes the type of packaging. As with all other aspects of PIERS data, units of measure are transcribed exactly as they appear on bills of lading, vessel manifests and AMS tapes. This field is used in conjunction with quantity, which identifies the number of units shipped.
Which schedule of product codes is used in PIERS?
There are two independent schedules of product codes used in the database. The first is the PIERS own schedule of commodity codes created when the service became available on-line. The second is the international Harmonized Tariff Schedule.
How are the product codes assigned?
Codes are assigned by an on-line dictionary as information is entered into the PIERS database. Descriptions are matched with codes and an assignment is made. Should the computer fail to make a match, manual correlation completes the assignment.
Who is the notify party in PIERS?
The Notify Party is the final recipient of the goods being shipped or an organization that must be notified that the goods have arrived in the United States. A Notify Party may be an importer or exporter, freight forwarder or bank. This information is available for imports only.
Why do shipments to Canadian ports appear on a sporadic basis in PIERS import information?
When ships call on Canadian ports after entering a U.S. port, documents for both stops must be presented to U.S. Customs. We are able to copy the documents of the Canadian import activity when they are filed at the U.S. ports.
What information is contained in the origin and destination fields?
Whenever available on the shipping document, we record actual U.S. origin and destination points outside the port of load or discharge to show the entire path of the cargo.
An origin point may be an actual manufacturing point, a distribution point, a cargo receipt point, a control point or the port of load.
A destination point may be a distribution point, an in-bond movement point, an inland intermodal facility, an actual consumption point or the port of discharge.
Why is the data contained in the u.s. origin field sometimes a foreign city in PIERS export information?
A foreign city may appear in the U.S. Origin field when foreign cargo is shipped through or trans-shipped through a U.S. port. This part of the shipment will be noted on the documents our reporters transcribe from Customs or the AMS tape.
Why is the data contained in the U.S. destination field sometimes a foreign city in PIERS import information?
A foreign city may appear in the U.S. Destination field when foreign cargo is received through or trans-shipped through a U.S. port. This part of the shipment will be noted on the documents our reporters transcribe from Customs or the AMS tape. 
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