MANDATORY CUSTOMS REQUIREMENT - VALUE OF GOODS
SCOPE: USA TO BAHAMAS
MSC wishes to remind you that declaring the value of the goods shipped with a destination in The Bahamas is a mandatory requirement of Bahamas Customs and has been so since 01 March, 2018.
Please note the total value of the goods in USD must be declared in your export documentation and will not be accepted in the body of an email message.
Failure to declare this may result in consequences to your shipments including but not limited to:
- Non-approval of shipment for export from the U.S. to The Bahamas.
- Rollover of units which may incur additional costs at your expense.
- Fines or penalties imposed by Bahamas Customs.
Acceptable forms of export documentation for the purposes of declaring the value of the goods include:
- Shipping Instructions.
- Commercial Invoice: Only when MSC files SED/AES and creates the SI on your behalf.
- Master or House Bill of Lading: May be used as SI if it contains all of the following information (Please consider below as the general requirements for acceptable shipping instructions):
- Shipper
- Consignee
- Notify party
- Freight forwarder or forwarding agent if applicable and their FMC license number (NOTE:MSC is not a freight forwarder but an ocean carrier/steamship line who can act as forwarding agent when a POA is filled and signed by your company authorizing us to do so; please do notdeclare MSC as a freight forwarder)
- Place of receipt/delivery (only if MSC handles the inland at origin/destination)
- U.S. Port of Loading and Foreign Port of Discharge
- Vessel/Voyage
- ITN/AES number or exemption if applicable
- Cargo description
- Final piece count
- Final weight(s)
- Packaging type
- Container number(s)
- Seal number(s)
- Value of the goods in USD
- Freight terms (prepaid/collect/elsewhere)
- Release type
- Shipper
