Updating a US notice of arrival: what to resubmit and when
A notice of arrival describes the ship, the voyage, the cargo and everyone on board at the moment it is sent. When any of that changes before arrival, the Coast Guard expects a revised notice. The rule is short: whenever events make submitted information inaccurate, or the submitter realises something sent was wrong, the owner, agent, master, operator or person in charge sends an update (§ 160.208).
Changes that need no update
Section 160.208(b) names three kinds of change you can leave out:
- Arrival or departure times that move by less than 6 hours.
- The ship’s position at the time of reporting.
- A crew member’s position or duties on board, such as a promotion during the voyage.
Anything else in the notice that stops being accurate needs a revised notice. A crew change, a new passport number, a different berth or an arrival that slips by 6 hours or more all count.
When the update is due
Updates go in as soon as practicable, with a latest time that depends on how much of the voyage is left when the change happens (§ 160.212(b)):
| Voyage time remaining | Submit the update |
|---|---|
| 24 hours or more | At least 24 hours before arriving |
| Less than 24 hours | At least 12 hours before arriving |
Smaller US vessels and towing vessels with certain dangerous cargo have shorter times in § 160.212(b)(2) and (b)(3). The notice of arrival deadline calculator gives both latest update times for a standard voyage.
How to send an update
Revise the whole notice and resubmit it (§ 160.208(c)), through eNOAD or as the NVMC workbook. The workbook’s instructions estimate 12 minutes per update. The first notice takes about five times as long by the same estimate, because an update starts from content that is already there.
With MyShipDesk the notice is filled from the call’s records, so an update means changing the record, such as the crew on board or the arrival time, and downloading the workbook again.
- 33 CFR part 160, subpart C (eCFR)