EDI 300 and 301 Ocean Booking Request and Confirmation Explained

The carrier confirmed the booking on Monday. On Thursday a second confirmation arrived for the same booking number with a different vessel name and a sailing seven days later. The translator accepted it, the integration team saw a clean 997, and nobody downstream noticed. The warehouse loaded the container to the original pier date, the truck gated it in, and the box sat at the terminal for a week while storage charges ran.

The X12 300 and 301 pair is simple once you know which fields carry the dates that matter. A forwarder or shipper system that stores every 301 as a version, compares it with the last accepted one and reacts to vessel, voyage and cutoff changes will catch most rollovers within minutes instead of at the terminal gate.

• Segment by segment: what a 300 booking request asks for and what a 301 confirmation answers, using the published 004010 structure.
• Dates and cutoffs: where departure, arrival, pier and receiving cutoff dates sit, and why verified gross mass usually travels outside this pair.
• Consequences: a sample message pair, a rollover diff rule, an India gate-in view, a cost ledger in dollars and rupees, and an onboarding checklist.

Where the 300 and 301 sit in an ocean export booking cycle

The 300 reserves space and equipment; the 301 confirms, declines or changes that reservation. Every other ocean message in the cycle, from shipping instructions to the freight invoice, depends on the booking number the 301 returns.

X12 describes Transaction Set 300, Reservation (Booking Request) (Ocean), as the set a shipper or forwarder uses to reserve space, containers and equipment on an ocean vessel. Transaction Set 301, Confirmation (Ocean), lets the carrier confirm availability in response and notify other parties such as terminal operators. The two travel inside the usual ISA, GS and ST envelopes and are acknowledged with a 997 like any other set.

• 300 Reservation: sent by the shipper or forwarder with route, equipment count and type, parties and cargo lines.
• 301 Confirmation: returned by the carrier with an action code, booking number, sailing dates and empty-container release details.
• 304 Shipping Instructions: sent later against the booking number to build the bill of lading.
• 315 Status Details (Ocean): container events such as gate-in, loaded and discharged, keyed to the booking or bill.
• 310 Freight Receipt and Invoice (Ocean): the carrier's freight bill, which freight audit matches back to the booking.

The relationship to our ocean booking rollover workflow is direct but narrow. That article covers how operations teams propagate a revised sailing plan to pickup, documents and customers. This one covers the message layer underneath: which 301 fields signal the change and how a system should detect it without waiting for an email.

Reading a 300 booking request segment by segment

A 300 needs only a handful of mandatory segments: B1, Y1, at least one N1 party, at least one R4 port and one LX cargo line. Most rejection loops come from optional segments that a carrier's implementation guide quietly makes mandatory.

In release 004010 the header carries B1 (beginning segment), Y1 (space reservation request), an optional Y2 loop for container counts with W09 temperature settings, N9 references, the N1 party loop and the R4 port loop with up to 15 DTM dates per port. The detail area repeats LX lines with N7 equipment, L0 quantity and weight, L5 description, L4 measurements and H1 hazardous material lines, followed by V1 vessel identification.

B1-04 uses element 558, Reservation Action Code. Its seven values are A (reservation accepted), B (conditional acceptance), C (counter proposal made), D (reservation cancelled), N (new), R (delete) and U (change). A shipper's system normally sends N, U or R; the carrier's 301 answers with A, B, C or D, or with U when the carrier itself changes the booking.

What the carrier's 301 confirms and which fields carry dates

The 301 replaces the 300's Y1 request with Y3 space confirmation and adds a Y4 container release loop. Y3 and the R4 date loop hold every date a warehouse or drayage plan depends on, so these are the fields to version and compare.

Y3-01 is the booking number the carrier assigned, up to 17 characters. Y3-03 is the vessel departure date, Y3-04 the estimated arrival at the port of discharge, and Y3-07 the required pier date, with Y3-08 holding a time on a 24-hour clock and Y3-11 the time zone. The published note states that if space is unavailable, Y3-01 carries the value "decline".

EDI 300 and 301 ocean booking exchanges pair the shipper's B1-02 shipment identification number with the carrier's Y3-01 booking number; a forwarder TMS should reject any 301 that matches no open 300 and store all seven element 558 action codes, A, B, C, D, N, R and U, as booking history.

Y4 tells the shipper where and when to collect empties: Y4-03 is the availability date, Y4-04 a Standard Point Location Code for the pick-up point, Y4-05 the number of containers, Y4-06 the equipment type and Y4-07 the carrier to whom containers are released. When Y4-05 in a later 301 drops below the Y2-01 count requested, the booking has been partly confirmed even if B1-04 still says A.

A sample 300 and 301 pair for one 40-foot booking

Seeing the messages side by side makes the comparison rules concrete. The pair below books one 40-foot dry container from Savannah to Rotterdam, then shows the carrier's first confirmation and a later change.

The example uses placeholder identifiers: CCCC stands for the carrier's SCAC, and the vessel names are invented. The equipment code 42G1 is an ISO 6346 size-type code shown for illustration; use the code source your carrier's implementation guide names. Separators are the asterisk and tilde, and envelopes are omitted.

300 sent by the forwarder, 2 Nov 2026
ST*300*0001~
B1**FWD24117*20261102*N~
Y1*20261116**CCCC~
Y2*1***42G1~
N9*PO*88213~
N1*SH*EXAMPLE EXPORTS INC~
N1*CN*EXAMPLE IMPORTS BV~
R4*L*UN*USSAV*SAVANNAH*US~
R4*D*UN*NLRTM*ROTTERDAM*NL~
LX*1~
L5*1*MACHINE PARTS ON PALLETS~
SE*12*0001~

301 first confirmation, received 2 Nov 2026 16:42
ST*301*0001~
B1*CCCC*FWD24117*20261102*A~
Y3*CCCC2477812*CCCC*20261116*20261204***20261113*1700~
Y4*CCCC2477812**20261109**1*42G1*CCCC~
R4*L*UN*USSAV*SAVANNAH*US~
DTM*311*20261113*1700~
R4*D*UN*NLRTM*ROTTERDAM*NL~
DTM*371*20261204~
LX*1~
V1**SAMPLE STAR**614E*CCCC~
SE*11*0001~

301 change, received 12 Nov 2026 09:15 (same B1-02 and Y3-01)
B1*CCCC*FWD24117*20261102*U~
Y3*CCCC2477812*CCCC*20261123*20261211***20261120*1700~
DTM*311*20261120*1700~
V1**SAMPLE CREST**615E*CCCC~
(other segments unchanged)

Diff against the last accepted 301:
  V1-02 SAMPLE STAR -> SAMPLE CREST   V1-04 614E -> 615E
  Y3-03 20261116 -> 20261123 (+7 days) Y3-07 20261113 -> 20261120
  DTM 311 20261113 -> 20261120          result: ROLLOVER, reopen load plan

Notice what the change message does not contain: a version number. The 004010 structure has no dedicated revision-number field in the 301, so the receiver orders messages by interchange and group control data and receipt time. Our guide to ISA, GS and ST control numbers explains how to keep that ordering trustworthy when a carrier resends.

Detecting a rollover from consecutive 301 messages

Treat every 301 as a new version of the booking and compare it with the last accepted version, field by field. A rollover is any change to vessel, voyage or departure date on an open booking, whatever B1-04 says.

Some carriers send a rollover as B1-04 = U; others resend A with new dates; a few cancel with D and issue a fresh booking number. A detection rule keyed only on the action code misses two of those three patterns. Keying on the Y3-01 booking number plus B1-02 shipment ID, then diffing V1, Y3 and the R4 DTM dates, catches all of them, and the cancel-and-rebook case is caught by linking the new booking back through B1-02.

Rollover detection on X12 004010 301 confirmations compares V1-02 vessel name, V1-04 voyage number, Y3-03 departure date and the R4-loop DTM 311 receiving cutoff with the last accepted 301 in the forwarder TMS; any change on an open booking should reopen the warehouse loading slot within 30 minutes of receipt.

VGM and cutoff fields: what X12 4010 carries and what it does not

The 004010 date qualifier list includes a receiving cutoff (311) and a latest pier delivery date (497), but no qualifier named for verified gross mass. VGM status therefore needs its own record per container, not a flag on the 301.

SOLAS regulation VI/2 has applied the verified gross mass requirement since 1 July 2016. The IMO guidelines in MSC.1/Circ.1475 put responsibility on the shipper (paragraph 4.1) and say a packed container should not be loaded unless the master and the terminal have its verified gross mass in advance (paragraph 4.2). Paragraph 6.2 requires the declaration to be signed by a person duly authorised by the shipper.

Verified gross mass under SOLAS regulation VI/2 and MSC.1/Circ.1475 paragraph 4.2 is a loading condition tracked per container, while the X12 004010 301 confirms space per booking; the forwarder TMS should hold VGM status separately and block gate-in dispatch for any container whose signed VGM is missing.

Paragraph 6.3 prefers electronic transmission such as EDI, and paragraph 6.3.1 lets the shipper meet the obligation by sending the VGM to the shipping company, which then passes it to the terminal. Paragraph 9.2 adds that where the terminal weighs the container itself, the terminal's figure prevails. The workflow side, including replacement containers, is covered in our VGM readiness workflow.

Indian export gate-in: Form-13, shipping bill and a rolled booking

At Indian container terminals the laden box is admitted against a terminal pre-advice commonly called Form-13, which ties the container to a specific vessel call. A rollover therefore changes more than dates: the gate pass itself may need to be regenerated.

APM Terminals Mumbai's e-Form 13 mass-upload specification shows what the terminal holds for each export unit. Mandatory fields include the vessel call number, container number, booking number issued by the shipping line, the party the Form-13 is issued to, the customs broker licence and name, ISO size-type, line seal, customs seal, gross weight in tonnes, port of discharge, shipping bill number, shipper name and an origin code that distinguishes CFS-stuffed, factory-stuffed and ICD-by-road units.

• Timing window: at that terminal, e-Form 13 can be generated 6 hours before actual gate opening, and pre-advice generation stops 5 hours before the line's actual gate cut-off.
• Vessel link: because the vessel call number is a mandatory field, a 301 that moves the booking to another vessel needs a matching change to the terminal record.
• Customs link: the shipping bill number on Form-13 ties the box to the export declaration filed on ICEGATE and to its Let Export Order.
• Weight link: the gross weight declared on Form-13 should agree with the signed VGM for that container number.

India's VGM framework sits in Directorate General of Shipping MS Notice 04 of 2016 dated 11 May 2016, as amended, under the same SOLAS regulation. The Directorate lists approved Dedicated Secure Website providers for electronic VGM submission and approved Method 2 weighing arrangements. A US exporter faces the same SOLAS rule through its carrier and terminal, but there is no single US equivalent of Form-13; gate admission rules are set by each terminal.

Rollover cost ledger for a US export and an Indian export

A missed rollover costs more in storage, re-handling and paperwork than the freight difference between two sailings. The ledger below prices one 40-foot container that gated in for the original sailing and waited seven days for the next.

All figures are illustrative and assume the container arrived inside the original free time but outside it for the new sailing. Actual storage and handling tariffs vary by terminal and by carrier, and whether the carrier or the shipper bears a carrier-initiated roll is a contract question. The point of the ledger is to show which line items appear and who should own each one.

Freight audit has its own exposure. When the 310 invoice arrives, check which date your service contract uses to select the rate, cargo receipt or vessel sailing, because a seven-day roll can push a box across a rate change. The invoice should reference the same Y3-01 booking number, and the audit should compare its sailing against the last accepted 301, not the first.

A missed rollover traced from 301 receipt to the terminal gate

Most missed rollovers are not lost messages; they are received, acknowledged and stored without anyone acting. The trace below, using the sample booking, shows the failure and the point where a diff rule would have stopped it.

1. Thu 12 Nov, 09:15: 301 for booking CCCC2477812 arrives with B1-04 = U, vessel SAMPLE CREST voyage 615E and Y3-03 = 20261123; the translator returns a 997 with AK9 accepted and posts the message to the TMS inbox.
2. Thu 12 Nov, 09:16: the TMS overwrites the booking header with the new vessel but has no rule linking header changes to the warehouse appointment; dock appointment WH-DA-55190 for 13 Nov 07:00 stays live.
3. Fri 13 Nov, 07:00 to 10:30: the warehouse stuffs the container to the old plan; the drayage dispatch, built from the first 301, sends the truck at 11:00.
4. Fri 13 Nov, 14:20: the container gates in at Savannah for the original receiving cutoff of 13 Nov 17:00; the terminal's free time now has to stretch to the 20 Nov cutoff for the new sailing.
5. Mon 23 Nov: the box sails on SAMPLE CREST; the terminal invoices four storage days and the booking desk first sees the change when the invoice is disputed. With a diff rule, an alert at 09:16 on 12 Nov would have moved the stuffing date and avoided the storage.

Onboarding checklist for a carrier 300 and 301 connection

Agree the field rules before the first live booking, not after the first rollover. Each line below needs a written answer from the carrier's implementation guide and a test message that proves it.

For more message guides and booking workflows, browse the logistics and supply chain library. If you need 301 versioning, rollover alerts and dock rescheduling built into your TMS and warehouse system, send us a short brief with your carriers, volumes and current booking flow.