UAE — MPCI
Maritime Pre-load Cargo Information — the UAE's advance manifest, filed to the National Advance Information Centre (NAIC) before the container is loaded at the last foreign port.
Read Customs filing first for the flow. This page covers what is specific to the UAE.
NAIC enforcement begins 30 September 2026. From that date a containerised maritime consignment bound for the UAE without an accepted MPCI is a compliance problem at the load port, not at Dubai.
When the card appears
On any shipment discharging in the UAE. MPCI is pre-load information for cargo bound for the UAE — an export out of the UAE does not need one.
What you file
One MPCI per house bill, before the box is loaded. Not before arrival — before loading. That is the whole point of the programme.
The UAE MPCI filing card
What you need to have ready
The shipment answers around six in ten fields. The UAE asks for postal codes and issue locations that most freight files do not carry, so budget for those.
Parties — and each needs a postal code:
Shipper: name, address, country, postal code
Consignee: name, address, country, postal code
Notify: name, country, postal code
Cargo: goods description, packages, gross weight, container number and seal number.
The manifest metadata, which is where most of the manual entry lives:
Processing indicator and shipment type
Bill of lading issue date, the country it was issued in and the location name
Freight payable country and freight location name
Your filer identity, entered once per shipment and carried across every house bill:
Filing operator and your NAIC Party ID
UAE master co-loader name and Party ID, where one applies
The MPCI filer identity, entered once and carried across house bills
What comes back
NAIC answers with a CUSRES message, and there are six outcomes. This is a richer vocabulary than most authorities use, and the difference between them matters:
NAIC says | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Accepted | The consignment is cleared to load | Nothing |
Accepted with warning | Cleared, but NAIC has flagged something | Read the note; usually nothing |
Request for information | NAIC wants more before deciding | Reply — see below |
Do not load | The consignment must not be loaded | Stop. This is a hard instruction, not a data error |
Pre-screening failed | It did not pass initial screening | Read the reason and re-file |
Expired | The window closed without a decision | Re-file |
Not every rejection comes from NAIC. CrimsonLogic — the gateway that carries the filing — checks it first, and one that fails that check comes straight back with the field named, before NAIC has seen anything. The record decodes the reason and offers a re-file from the same values.
A rejected MPCI filing — the gateway's reason decoded, with a re-file from the same values
Answering a request for information
NAIC can come back asking for more — a document, a clarification. That request appears on the record with its text, and you reply from there, with an attachment where one is needed. The reply goes back against the same filing, so the history stays in one place.
A request for information is not a rejection — the filing stays open, and answering it is what closes it. NAIC's decision arrives as a fresh verdict on the same record.
Gotchas
Amendments are refused after acceptance. NAIC does not accept an update to a filing it has already decided. Cancel and file again.
Pre-load means pre-load. An MPCI filed after the box is on the vessel does not retroactively make the loading compliant, whatever status it comes back with.
Dangerous goods are not yet a field on this filing. If your consignment is DG, raise it with us before you rely on the MPCI alone.