Compliance Notice – ECTN Requirement for Somalia
In accordance with a directive from the Ministry of Ports and Marine Transport (Ref. No. XW/WDGB/89/09/2025), effective 14 October 2025, all containers destined for any port within the Federal Republic of Somalia must be accompanied by a valid ECTN certificate.
Key Requirements
- The ECTN must be obtained before the shipment's arrival
- The ECTN number must be clearly indicated on the Bill of Lading
- Cargo without a valid ECTN will not be accepted for loading or discharge at Somali ports
Filing against this directive
Our desk records a Somalia ECTN application as filed with three documents: the bill of lading, the commercial invoice and the freight invoice.
The directive quoted above requires the ECTN number on the bill of lading, and that is where applications most often come apart — specifically when the number is absent from the Master bill of lading rather than the house document. Two other causes recur: no certificate of origin for manufactured products, and a consignee without a registered tax identification number in Somalia. The second is worth settling before booking rather than at filing, since it is not something a forwarder can resolve on the consignee's behalf.
Current requirements are kept on the Somalia ECTN page.