Lately, I have received many calls from customers indicating they have received a response from the Automated Export System (AES) of: Shipment Rejected: 125 Conveyance Name Ineligible. Filers say they have always listed “unknown” in the past, and it has never triggered an error. Let me explain. There was an update in the AES that validates against the Conveyance Name field. It no longer allows a shipment to leave the U.S. without a valid description of the carrier that is moving the merchandise out of the country. If a filer submits ‘UNKNOWN’ as the conveyance name in the shipment information section, AES will reject the shipment. It will generate fatal error 125: ‘ Conveyance Name Ineligible’.

If you receive this error, here’s how to correct it:

1. Retrieve the shipment.
2. Locate Conveyance Name field and enter the transportation company’s name. If the shipment is leaving via vessel, indicate the vessel’s name.
3. Verify all other fields are complete and resubmit.

Avoid other terms such as: airplane, train, rail, truck, vessel, barge, or international footbridge as these are also not acceptable.

You must indicate the name of the carrier transporting the goods out of the U.S. listed in the Electronic Export Information (EEI). According to the Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR) 30.6 (a)(7), report the following as the Conveyance name:

“The conveyance name/carrier name is the name of the conveyance/carrier transporting the goods out of the United States as known at the time of exportation. For exports by sea, the conveyance name is the vessel name. For exports by air, rail, or truck, the carrier name is that which corresponds to the carrier identification…”

Though every Carrier Code (whether a SCAC or IATA code) is not in the system, the name of the company transporting the goods is known at the time of export. You may not list “unknown” in the Conveyance Name. If the corresponding Carrier Code for a carrier is not listed in the AES, then you may use the appropriate unknown code classified by the particular mode of transportation in the Carrier SCAC/IATA field.

For Carriers that do not have a valid SCAC or IATA code, indicate one of the following:

• 99M — unknown mexican trucker
• 99F — unknown foreign air carrier
• 99U — unknown U.S. air carrier
• 99C — unknown canadian air carrier
• UNKN — unknown carrier (Only for ocean, rail and truck shipments)
• 99O — Use this code if the aircraft is the item being exported. Indicate “Flyaway Aircraft” as the Conveyance Name.

* The Carrier Code tables are updated regularly. Check and make sure the carrier you are using is not in the list prior to utilizing an unknown code from the list above.