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Mexican law (SAT Carta Porte) requires customs and tariff data on top of a standard bill of lading whenever a shipment crosses the US–Mexico border. Cedar enforces these rules during 824 application advice validation against every waybill created or updated through /ims/waybills/bill-of-lading (and every equivalent inbound EDI message). Missing or malformed data surfaces as an 816* or 825* error code on the resulting waybill.

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When the requirements apply

The Carta Porte data block is required when both of the following are true:
  • shipmentQualifier is one of 6 (split first bill), 7 (split subordinate), B (single BOL), C (consolidated), F (stop-off), M (master BOL), S (submaster BOL), W (revenue empty).
  • Exactly one of originStation and destinationStation resolves to Mexico (origin xor destination — pure intra-Mexico moves are currently not validated by this rule). Cedar resolves the country from countryCode if present, otherwise from stateOrProvince.
Empty, intermodal, switch, blind-memo, and company-business qualifiers (1, 8, E, G, H, I, N, X) are exempt regardless of route.

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Where the data goes

Carta Porte data is attached to the equipment, not to the top-level lineItems[] array: The two arrays are not interchangeable. waybill.lineItems[].quantity is a nested LineItemQuantity object (billedAsQuantity, weightQualifier, etc.); shipmentInfo[].lineItems[].quantity is a flat numeric field corresponding to the X12 417 N1001 element. A cross-border waybill needs both populated. When waybillTemplateId is set on a /ims/waybills/bill-of-lading request, Cedar merges template data with the request rather than replacing the waybill wholesale.

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equipmentDetails[].shipmentInfo[]

  • Template fields (for example referenceIdQualifier, referenceId, extendedReferenceInfo, commodity scaffolding on line items) fill in when the request omits them.
  • Request fields override template values only when the request value is non-null. An explicit null or omitted field in the request does not clear template data.
  • When the request includes a non-null shipmentInfo[].lineItems[].weight, that value is also written to the lead equipment’s netWeightLbs and grossWeightLbs (converted to pounds when weightUnitCode is K).
You can send minimal request shipmentInfo containing only dynamic line-item fields (quantity, weight, weightUnitCode) and rely on the template for Carta Porte reference data.

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parties[]

  • Shipper, consignee, freight bill party, and in-care-of (one per bill): Cedar merges each matching pair. Request address data is kept unless the template party includes a non-empty address block (name, address lines, city/state/zip, etc.), in which case the template address block is used. Administrative contacts, billing info, and reference info from the request and template are all retained.
  • All other party types (for example Rule 11): every party from the request and every party from the template is kept. Nothing is replaced or deduplicated.

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Required content of each shipmentInfo[] entry

For each commodity on each piece of equipment:

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Hazardous shipments

If the waybill has any hazardousInfo[] entries, every shipmentInfo[] block with referenceIdQualifier = UNC must additionally include at least one extendedReferenceInfo[] entry with referenceIdQualifier = MHC (Mexico SAT Hazardous Code). The MHC value must be prefixed with UN and must exist in the Carta Porte reference data.

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Required shipper contact

Cross-border waybills must include a parties[] entry with partyType = SH (shipper) that has at least one administrativeContacts[] entry containing all of:
  • contactFunctionCode = SP
  • a non-empty name
  • communicationNumbers[] with the first entry qualifier = TE (telephone) and a non-empty number, and the second entry qualifier = EM (email) and a non-empty number
The same validation runs whether a waybill is created via /ims/waybills/bill-of-lading or arrives over EDI. The error codes returned in 824 application advice are identical, so the troubleshooting flow is the same regardless of source.