2026 Trade Intelligence & Customs Privacy Guide · 19 CFR § 103.31
Before paying $2,000 to $12,000/yr for customs manifest software, U.S. manufacturers and exporters need to know a crucial statutory fact: all three platforms buy the exact same underlying U.S. Customs waterborne vessel manifest feed governed by 19 CFR § 103.31. You only need paid enterprise seats if you require non-U.S. foreign customs registries (LATAM, India, Vietnam) or S&P corporate-tree linkage.
/go/* include rel="sponsored noopener" and may earn a referral fee (where offered) at zero cost to you. Our CBP 19 CFR § 103.31 privacy generator is 100% free and unmonetized.
$0 Free Web Search · Optional API
Instant, zero-login search across 70M+ U.S. ocean Bills of Lading. Best way to audit whether your own company's suppliers or buyers are leaking publicly—and vet U.S. waterborne trade partners for $0.
~$10,000–$12,000+/yr (Annual Contract)
Enterprise trade-intelligence suite combining U.S. ocean manifests with 15+ foreign customs datasets (Mexico, Brazil, India, Vietnam) and S&P Capital IQ parent-subsidiary mapping.
~$1,800–$4,800/yr ($149–$399/mo tiers)
Mid-market subscription covering U.S. inward/outward ocean manifests plus 15+ Latin American customs registries (Colombia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Mexico) with CSV export alerts.
Found Your Company's Shipments Exposed? Cloak Them with CBP for $0
Don't pay a law firm $500+ to file a 1-page CBP letter. Generate your official 2-year 19 CFR § 103.31 inward + outward ocean manifest redaction letter (with 10 DBA/typo variants) in 60 seconds inside your browser.
| Capability / 2026 Pricing | ImportYeti | S&P Global Panjiva | ImportGenius |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Typical Annual Cost | $0 Free (core web tool; paid bulk API/CSV optional) | ~$10,000 – $12,000+/yr (sales-quoted annual seat license) | ~$1,800 – $4,800/yr (~$149–$399/mo tiered plans) |
| Self-Serve Without Sales Call? | Yes — instant search, zero account wall | No — requires enterprise demo & annual procurement | Partial — self-serve tiers available, enterprise LATAM add-ons quoted |
| U.S. Inward Ocean Bills of Lading | Yes (full CBP waterborne feed) | Yes (full CBP waterborne feed) | Yes (full CBP waterborne feed) |
| U.S. Outward Export Ocean Manifests | Limited focus (primarily U.S. import/supplier graph) | Yes — full U.S. waterborne export manifests | Yes — U.S. export manifests on higher tiers |
| Foreign Country Customs Registries | U.S. waterborne focus | 15+ countries (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru, India, Vietnam, Pakistan, etc.) | 15+ Latin American countries + select global datasets |
| Air Cargo, Truck & Rail Shipments? | No (exempt from CBP 19 CFR § 103.31 sale) | U.S. air/truck No; only visible where a foreign country publishes all modes | U.S. air/truck No; only visible in select foreign LATAM registries |
| Invoice Dollar Value Shown? | Estimated / weight & TEU container counts (CBP B/Ls omit exact invoice USD) | Weight/TEUs on U.S. B/Ls; exact CIF USD shown on select LATAM/India customs entries | Weight/TEUs on U.S. B/Ls; exact FOB/CIF USD on select LATAM entries |
| Corporate Parent-Subsidiary Mapping | Visual supplier-buyer relationship network | Deep S&P Capital IQ corporate hierarchy & sanctions cross-links | Entity name & consignee search filters |
| Best Use Case for U.S. Exporters | Free self-privacy audit, vetting competitor factory sources & U.S. importer leads | Global procurement teams mapping multi-tier Asian/LATAM supply chain risk | Exporters scouting active importers of their HS code across Mexico & South America |
19 CFR § 103.31 Actually Works: Ocean vs. Air/Truck & Foreign Port Loopholes
Many U.S. exporters assume their overseas customer list is private trade-secret data—until a competitor scrapes their exact consignee names and container cadence off an ocean Bill of Lading.
Under 19 CFR § 103.31(a) and (e), CBP sells daily electronic feeds of waterborne vessel manifests (both inward imports and outward exports) to accredited press/data aggregators.
Air cargo waybills, cross-border trucking (ACE e-Manifest), and rail are not publicly released under this statute—which is why high-margin avionics, medtech, and electronics exporters rarely appear on ImportYeti when shipping by air.
When you file a free 2-year CBP Vessel Manifest Confidentiality request, CBP's redaction engine matches exact text strings typed onto Master and House Bills of Lading by freight forwarders.
If your legal name is Cascade Marine Systems, LLC and an NVOCC types Cascade Marine Sys Inc, it leaks unless you submit up to 10 punctuation and DBA variants in your filing—and allow 60–90 days for CBP processing.
CBP redaction scrubs your name from U.S. port feeds. However, several Latin American and South Asian customs ministries publish local import declarations showing the foreign consignee and shipper.
When shipping sensitive proprietary goods into open-manifest countries, combine CBP 19 CFR § 103.31 redaction with a Double-Blind / Switch Bill of Lading via your NVOCC forwarder.
Under federal customs regulations (19 CFR § 103.31), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is authorized by statute to make inward and outward waterborne vessel manifest data available to the press and commercial trade publishers—unless the U.S. importer or exporter files a formal confidentiality request. By contrast, air cargo, cross-border truck, and rail manifests are NOT sold under 19 CFR § 103.31.
Yes. ImportYeti provides $0 free public browser search across 70M+ U.S. Customs waterborne Bills of Lading without requiring a demo call or annual contract. S&P Global Panjiva (~$10,000–$12,000+/yr) and ImportGenius (~$1,800–$4,800/yr) charge higher fees primarily because they license non-U.S. foreign customs databases (such as Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, India, and Vietnam) alongside enterprise corporate-tree analytics.
File a free CBP Electronic Vessel Manifest Confidentiality request under 19 CFR § 103.31 (requesting both inward and outward suppression across up to 10 DBA and punctuation variants). CBP charges $0, the suppression lasts 2 years nationwide across all U.S. ports, and takes 60–90 days to take effect on future CBP manifest feeds.
CBP 19 CFR § 103.31 blocks your shipper/consignee name from U.S. inward and outward vessel manifest feeds distributed by U.S. Customs. However, if you export to countries whose local customs agencies independently sell import declarations, enterprise platforms like Panjiva or ImportGenius may still ingest the foreign buyer's local import entry unless you ship via a neutral logistics entity, Switch B/L, or air freight.