Declaring transport information in the import declaration

1. The goods arrive on a ship directly from China to Vuosaari harbour, and the ship sails under the Dutch flag. An import declaration is submitted for the goods upon arrival at the harbour. Provide the following details in the customs declaration:

• “Mode of transport at the border”
  • mode of transport “1 – Sea transport”
  • Nationality of the means of transport “NL – Netherlands”
• “Arrival transport means”
  • mode of transport “1 – Sea transport”
  • In section “Identification of the means of transport” the name of the ship
  • Nationality of the means of transport “NL – Netherlands”

2. The goods arrive on a ship directly from China to the Port of Rotterdam, and the ship sails under the Dutch flag. At the Port of Rotterdam, the goods are transhipped to a ship that sails under the Finnish flag, and the goods are transported to Vuosaari Harbour. After arriving at Vuosaari Harbour an import declaration is submitted for the goods. Provide the following information in the customs declaration:

• “Mode of transport at the border”
  • mode of transport “1 – Sea transport”
  • Nationality of the means of transport “NL – Netherlands”
• “Arrival transport means”
  • mode of transport “1 – Sea transport”
  • In section “Identification of the means of transport,” the name of the Finnish ship
  • nationality of the means of transport “FI – Finland”

3. You have ordered an air transport from the United States to Finland, and the goods are transported all the way with the same air waybill from the United States to Helsinki-Vantaa airport. The goods arrive from the United States to Sweden by air, but they are loaded from the aircraft onto a truck in Stockholm. The goods arrive at a temporary storage facility at Helsinki-Vantaa airport in the truck, i.e. it is a so-called air-truck transport. Provide the following information in the customs declaration:

• “Mode of transport at the border”
  • Mode of transport ‘4 – Air transport’
  • Nationality of the means of transport: country where the aircraft is registered
• “Arrival transport means”
  • Mode of transport “3 – Road transport”
  • In the section “Identification of the means of transport,” the registration number of the truck and trailer
  • Nationality of the means of transport: the state where the truck is registered

4. The goods are loaded onto a lorry in the UK, because they are to be transported by lorry to Tampere. The forwarder makes a T1 transit for the goods in the UK and the lorry is loaded onto a ship that arrives directly in Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, the lorry is unloaded from the ship and the goods are transported in the lorry to Travemünde, where the lorry is loaded onto a ship headed for Helsinki. In Helsinki, the lorry is driven off the ship and the goods are transported to the location mentioned in the customs declaration, i.e. to a temporary storage facility in Tampere. Provide the following information in the customs declaration:

• “Mode of transport at the border”
  • mode of transport “1 – Sea transport”
  • nationality of the means of transport: the country under whose flag the ship travelling between the UK and Amsterdam is registered
• “Arrival transport means”
  • Mode of transport “3 – Road transport”
  • in section “Identification of the means of transport”, the registration number of the truck and trailer that transported the goods to Tampere
  • nationality of means of transport: State where the lorry that transported the goods to Tampere is registered

In the standard import declaration, the transport information is provided at declaration header level, which means that the unique information of only one means of transport can be provided.

In a simplified declaration and in a presentation notification, unique information of a means of transport is not provided. Neither is unique information of a means of transport provided in supplementary declarations for a period.

Unique information of a means of transport is provided as follows in the different modes of transport:

1 – Sea transport

• If the goods arrive as sea transport, provide the name of the seagoing vessel in the customs declaration or the IMO ship identification number.

2 – Rail transport

• If the goods arrive as rail transport, i.e. by train, provide the number of the train car in the import declaration. 

3 – Road transport

• If the goods arrive as road transport, provide the registration number of the vehicle. If the goods are packed in a trailer, provide the registration number of the truck and the trailer in the declaration (like this; “truck’s registration number / trailer’s registration number”, e.g. ABC-123 / AB-1234).

4 – Air transport

• If the goods arrive as air transport, provide the flight number and date (if the flight number is not known, provide the aircraft registration number).

5 – Postal consignment

• If the goods arrive as a postal consignment, provide as mode of transport “5” in which case the means of transport information is not necessary.

7 – Fixed transport installations

• If the goods are imported to Finland directly for example in an electricity cable or a gas pipeline, provide as mode of transport “7”, then the means of transport information is not necessary.

8 – Inland waterway transport (Saimaa Channel)

• If the goods arrive as inland waterway transport, i.e. via Saimaa Channel, provide e.g. the name of the inland waterway vessel in the customs declaration.

9 – Own propulsion

• If you are importing a means of transport, for example a ship that you are sailing or driving yourself, provide the ship’s information as means of transport in the import declaration.

Note that if you are submitting an import declaration for goods under temporary storage or under customs warehousing, and the goods have arrived in several consignments,”Read more on declaring split consignment here”. For example, if split consignments were imported by rail to a temporary storage facility (previous procedure 00 or 71), enter “Train” as the identification number of the means of transport.

If the means of transport must be declared in Finland, submit a customs declaration when the means of transport, e.g. a seagoing vessel, arrives in Finland for the first time. The means of transport can also arrive in Finland independently, i.e., by using its own engine. If you are importing the means of transport temporarily, read more about temporary admission.

When you are submitting an import declaration for a seagoing vessel as a means of transport, please note the following:

- Customs procedure

• requested procedure “40 – Release for free circulation”
• previous procedure “00 – No previous procedure”, if there is no previous procedure

- Additional procedure code

• In the case of a seagoing vessels with a maximum hull length of 10 meters or more and which is not primarily designed for recreational or sporting purposes:
• additional procedure code “621 – VAT-exempt import of vessels and of spare parts for vessels in professional international traffic, section 94(1)(9) VAT Act, section 58(1) VAT Act.”
  • However, note that the Finnish Tax Administration decides on the VAT exemption when the operator is registered for VAT in the Finnish VAT register.
• If the seagoing vessel is some other vessel than the one mentioned above, and you don’t need to provide any other additional procedure in the declaration, use
• additional procedure code “999 –No additional procedure.”

- Previous document

• Submit an entry summary declaration, an arrival notification and a presentation notification. Instead of being propelled by its own engine, the means of transport may arrive as freight, by being towed or may transport freight. If the means of transport is transporting freight, you can declare the means of transport with the same entry summary declaration as well as present it with the same presentation notification as the freight. In that case, the MRN of the entry summary declaration as well as the goods item number is presented as previous document for the declaration.
• Weight of the goods
  • Provide as weight, the mass of the means of transport itself, for example the seagoing vessel’s own mass.

- Term of delivery

• The term of delivery is usually determined in the commercial contract or invoice. The term of delivery doesn’t have to be in accordance with Incoterms, rather it can be some other, e.g. “XXX – Other delivery terms.”

- Commodity code

• Provide the commodity code at a level of ten digits.

Taric additional codes and condition codes

• There are restrictions that the importer must take into account when importing means of transport. Check the measures required by the commodity code in advance in the Fintaric service.
• In the customs declaration, you take the restrictions into account with Taric additional codes, condition codes and with authorisation documents.
  • You can ask for advice and instructions, for example from the Finnish Environment Institute, if the import goods contain fluorinated greenhouse gasses or ozone depleting substances.

- Mode of transport

• Mode of transport code “9 – Own propulsion”

- Package type

• Package type code “NE – Unpacked or unpackaged”

- Supplementary unit

• “NAR”, i.e. how many means of transport are declared

Providing the value details

• If the goods are sold, enter as value of the goods the transaction value, i.e. the price actually paid or to be paid for the goods.
• If the goods are not sold, enter the price that would be paid for the goods if they had been sold to the EU.
  • The transport and insurance costs must be added to the customs value up to the place where the goods are brought into the EU.
    • Please note: If the transport is free of charge and is organised by the buyer, the transport costs are calculated in accordance with the transport payments usually implemented for the same modes of transport. For example, fuel costs can be declared as a cost because they are known with sufficient accuracy, or some another plausible calculation or estimate that can be presented subsequently in writing to Customs.
• The transport costs are added to the statistical value up to the Finnish border.

 Statistical data on vessels and aircraft - Intrastat - Finnish Customs - Statistics (tulli.fi).

A single import declaration can cover only one means of transport. This means that an individual import declaration can contain details only on a single train car. 

If you declare goods directly from the train car, be sure to provide the train car number as the identifier for the means of transport in a standard import declaration. This information is to be entered under “Arrival transport means”. As for simplified declarations, this information is not included. 

If goods under temporary storage or customs warehousing is imported by rail, and you submit an import declaration for the goods (previous procedure 00 or 71), enter “Train” as the identifier of the means of transport.