What is 'Shipment Record' ? Shipment record, as its name implies, contains details of an export or import shipment. Usually, it is compiled by customs authorities based on each export and import shipment passing through its offices situated at sea ports, airports and land ports. Typically, Port Customs Office publishes this information daily. Shipment records contain authentic micro level trade data such as name and address of importer, exporter, description of traded commodity, volume, value, shipping details etc. Extent of data varies from country to country.

Why Shipment Records are Important for my Business ? Shipment record is an invaluable market research tool as it contains highly authentic and reliable information related to your business. It answers questions like Who are buyers of my product ?, Which country should I focus on ? At what price my competitors are selling ? etc.

What is the difference between 'Shipment Record' and 'Trade Enquiry' ? Trade Enquiry is a pre-sale activity while shipment record is a post-sale documentation, recording details of a particular transaction. The two are complementary to each other as knowledge and details of past buy/sell data considerably helps a business during negotiation and eventually clinch the deal. Besides helping in market research, shipment record is a reliable source for locating buyers and sellers. Unlike trade enquiry - there is no issue of fake enquiry or dealing with non-serious buyers/sellers as every record contains details of transaction that has actually taken place and recorded by a reliable governmental agency. Proper use of shipment data can provide a very competitive upper hand to your international business and an edge over your competitor.

Shipment Records from which countries are available ? We can supply shipment records for USA, UK, China and India. You can order latest as well as historical data. Please note - extent of data varies considerably from country to country. Before ordering - please check sample shipment records.

What is the source of this data and how Fresh is it ? The data is procured from official customs authorities. We can supply data till last month. There is a data lag of 30 - 45 days because of procedural delays with governmental sources and in-house processing. So data till September will be available in end October or early November.

What is the price and How Do I Order ? The price depends upon country and time period. You can order for 3-month, 6-month or 1-Year period for export or import for a specific country. You can also order historical data (2005) at reduced price. While ordering, please mention the following:

• Country (i.e. US, UK or China)


• Product Name, HS Code and Keywords. Please use ITC code search facility for locating HS Code
  
• Period (3-month, 6-Month, 1-Year) - Latest or Historical