CTN: Cargo Tracking Note
In shipping and international trade, CTN is the abbreviation for Cargo Tracking Note. It is an electronic certificate that a shipper, exporter or freight forwarder files with the destination country’s shippers’ council or customs authority before a sea shipment arrives — in most cases before it even departs.
The certificate carries a unique CTN number. That number ties one specific shipment to a validated record of:
- Shipper and consignee identity and registered addresses
- Bill of Lading number, vessel name and voyage number
- Container and seal numbers, package count, gross and net weight
- HS codes and the full cargo description
- FOB value, freight cost and insurance, declared separately
- Port of loading and port of discharge
Destination customs use that record to reconcile the arriving manifest against what was declared at origin. Without a validated CTN number, the cargo is not cleared.
The wider umbrella term is ECTN — Electronic Cargo Tracking Note. CTN and ECTN describe the same instrument; ECTN emphasises that the filing is electronic. You will also see ICTN, International Cargo Tracking Note, used for the same document.
Other meanings of CTN
CTN is not exclusive to shipping. If you arrived here from a non-freight context, one of these is probably what you were after.
- Carton. In packing lists, warehouse systems and purchase orders, CTN is the standard shorthand for a carton as a unit of packaging (for example, “24 CTN”). This is the meaning most often confused with the shipping certificate, because both appear on shipping documents. On a packing list, CTN means carton. On a customs or compliance requirement, CTN means Cargo Tracking Note.
- Networking and broadcast. CTN appears in some telecom and broadcast network naming, unrelated to trade.
- Medicine. CTN is used as an abbreviation for cardiac troponin in clinical shorthand, and for various clinical trial networks.
- Company and ticker names. Several unrelated businesses use CTN as a brand initialism.
The same document, different local names
The single biggest source of confusion is that almost every country calls this document something else. A forwarder told to “get the BESC” and a forwarder told to “get the CTN” are being asked for the same thing.
| Written as | Full name | Used by |
|---|---|---|
| CTN | Cargo Tracking Note | Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia |
| ECTN | Electronic Cargo Tracking Note | The umbrella term, and the local name in most other destinations |
Every other destination uses a different acronym for the same instrument — BESC, BSC, CNCA, FERI, BIETC, CEE, ACD, ACID. The full mapping, with the official name and the countries behind each one, is in the cargo tracking note reference.
ACD and ACID sit slightly apart. They are advance security declarations rather than shippers’-council tracking notes, but they occupy the same slot in the shipment: an origin-side electronic filing that has to be validated before the cargo can clear at destination. The full country-by-country breakdown is on the cargo tracking note hub.
Which countries require a CTN?
The 30 destinations we file for all require the document under one name or another. Coverage is concentrated in West and Central Africa, extends down the East African coast, and reaches into the Middle East through Egypt, Sudan and Yemen. The full destination directory lists every one with its local acronym.
Two clarifications, because both generate a lot of misdirected searches:
- Nigeria does not require a cargo tracking note. Nigeria’s mandatory pre-shipment requirement is SONCAP, which certifies that regulated products meet Nigerian safety and quality standards. It is a product-conformity requirement, not a cargo-tracking one.
- Algeria does not require a cargo waiver. It is still listed on outdated requirement tables. It is not one of the destinations we file for.
Requirements change by decree, and countries have both introduced and suspended the obligation. Check the destination page before you book, or run the route through the waiver checker.
Who files the CTN, and when
Responsibility sits at origin, with the party that controls the export documents — normally the exporter or the freight forwarder acting for the shipper. The consignee usually cannot fix a missing CTN from the destination side once the vessel has sailed.
Egypt is the structural exception: the Egyptian importer registers the shipment on the NAFEZA portal and generates the ACID number, then passes it to the exporter, who completes the filing against that number before shipping.
The cut-off is set by the destination authority and varies. Some destinations require validation before the vessel departs the load port — Sudan’s ACD, for example, must be obtained before the cargo is loaded, and the reference then has to appear on the final Bill of Lading. Others allow validation before arrival at the discharge port. Late validation typically costs more; Cameroon’s council fee rises when the BESC is validated after departure.
The sequence that avoids trouble is the same everywhere: get the draft Bill of Lading, file the application, receive the number, and have the carrier print that number on the final Bill of Lading before it is issued. Trying to reverse that order is what produces most amendment charges.
Documents required for a CTN
| Document | Why the authority wants it |
|---|---|
| Bill of Lading | Draft to open the file, final shipped-on-board version to validate. Supplies containers, seals, weights, vessel and voyage. |
| Commercial invoice | Itemised, with unit prices, HS codes, and FOB, freight and insurance as separate lines. This is the declared value customs reconciles against. |
| Freight invoice | Mandatory in 29 of the 30 destinations — every one except Egypt — so freight and goods value are never conflated. |
| Export customs declaration | Links the origin-side export entry to the filing. Required by sixteen destinations: Benin, Burundi, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Togo. |
| Packing list | Reconciles package counts, dimensions and weights against the Bill of Lading. Required by eight destinations: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Liberia, Madagascar and Sudan. |
| National prerequisite document | A second local registration the filing is gated behind — Angola’s Documento Único, Ivory Coast’s and DR Congo’s FDI, Madagascar’s GASYNET code, Egypt’s NAFEZA registration, Niger’s T1. |
How to get a CTN certificate
- 1Send the draft BL and commercial invoiceOpen the file as soon as the booking is confirmed. A draft Bill of Lading is enough to start.
- 2Draft and fixed price — 3–6 hoursOur desk checks every field against the destination’s published requirements and returns a draft certificate with an itemised, fixed-price invoice.
- 3You approve the draftNothing is filed until you confirm the details are right.
- 4PaymentThe statutory charge set by the destination authority plus our service fee, quoted as two separate lines.
- 5Validation — 3–6 hoursThe certificate is registered and the number is issued to your inbox.
- 6Number onto the Bill of LadingGive the number to the carrier so it is printed on the final master BL before release.
Cost, and what it costs to get it wrong
A CTN price is a statutory charge set by the destination authority plus a service fee for preparing and filing the declaration. Both are confirmed against your route and quoted before anything is filed; neither is a percentage of cargo value.
The certificate fee is small relative to the exposure. Consequences named by the authorities themselves include:
- Cargo blocked at the port. Angola requires the importer to present the original hard copy of the validated CNCA certificate before the cargo is released. Without a validated FERI, DR Congo cargo may not be released at Matadi or Boma until the certificate and related taxes are settled.
- Percentage-of-value fines. Cameroon fines for a missing or incorrect BESC can reach 30% to 50% of the CIF freight value, plus storage and demurrage at Douala.
- Multiples of the certificate cost. Angola applies penalties of twice the certificate cost, plus standard regulatory fines, for shipments arriving without a validated CNCA or with false declarations.
- Return to origin. Shipments reaching Egypt without a valid, matched ACID are rejected at the port, cannot be cleared, and are typically returned to the origin country at the shipper’s cost.
- Demurrage and storage. These accrue daily while the paperwork is corrected and are frequently larger than the fine itself. The demurrage calculator sizes it for your route.
- Amendment fees. Correcting a validated certificate after issue carries a charge in most countries, and some restrict what can be amended at all.
Top rejection reasons
These are the documentary grounds on which destination councils and customs authorities reject an application. Every one of them is fixable at origin, before filing.
1. The certificate number is not on the Bill of Lading
This is the most universal requirement and the single most common reason a shipment is stopped. The validated number must appear on the face of the Bill of Lading — usually within the cargo description — on the master BL, not only on a house BL. Sierra Leone, Liberia and Somalia record it against the master BL specifically; Ghana, Gambia, Senegal, Benin, Chad, Mali, Niger, DR Congo, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Egypt, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Conakry, Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Togo all record a version of the same rule. Angola is the exception: its regulations do not require the CNCA number to be annotated on the face of the BL.
2. Value and freight are not broken out on the commercial invoice
Councils reconcile declared value against the manifest, so a single lump-sum figure is not accepted. Liberia requires FOB, freight and insurance shown separately; Mali requires FOB, freight and ancillary costs listed separately; Cameroon requires sea freight declared separately from goods value; Benin, Guinea Conakry and Niger require a separate freight invoice where freight is not stated; Gambia requires one for FOB shipments; Equatorial Guinea rejects invoices without unit prices.
3. Declared value inconsistent with the other documents
Sierra Leone records customs value under-declaration; Guinea Bissau, under-declaration against market average; Angola, invoice value and freight not matching the customs declaration; Senegal, invoice value not matching the insurance certificate; Ivory Coast, freight invoice not matching shipping-line quotes; Togo, a discrepancy between the customs manifest and the invoice; Republic of Congo, invoice against freight invoice; Kenya, declared values against the commercial invoice.
4. Cargo data does not match across documents
Package count or weight differing between the BL and the packing list (Liberia, Madagascar, Burundi, Burkina Faso), container seal numbers not reconciling (Benin, Guinea Bissau), container numbers not matching the export declaration (Togo), package type stated differently on two documents (Chad), cargo description mismatch between BL and invoice (Yemen), vessel name or voyage not matching the port manifest (Gabon, Ghana), departure date not matching shipping-line records (Djibouti), vessel named without its IMO code (Equatorial Guinea).
5. Wrong version of the Bill of Lading, or wrong dates
A draft BL submitted instead of the final shipped-on-board BL (Gabon), a master BL dated after vessel departure (Angola), an invoice dated after departure (Central African Republic), a departure date missing from the BL (Sierra Leone), a validation request raised days after sailing (Republic of Congo), documents submitted after the departure deadline (Kenya), a reference not obtained before loading (Yemen).
6. HS codes, stamps and national prerequisites
HS codes at the wrong level (Cameroon requires 4 to 8 digits matching its tariff; Ghana requires the full 8 digits; DR Congo requires a per-item breakdown). Missing or blurred certification stamps (Cameroon’s SGS stamp, exporter stamps for Ivory Coast and Djibouti, chamber of commerce stamps for Burundi and Sudan, embassy or chamber stamps for South Sudan, Certificate of Origin for Somalia). Missing national prerequisite documents (Angola’s DU, Ivory Coast’s and DR Congo’s FDI, Madagascar’s GASYNET code, Egypt’s NAFEZA registration, Somalia’s consignee tax number, Niger’s T1).
Frequently asked questions
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