How it works
How CargoFax works: from customs records to your team
CargoFax collects customs records in eight markets, prepares them so they can be searched across markets, and delivers them in the Atlas platform or in bulk through Files. US bill of lading records arrive daily with about a one-day lag; Haiti customs records, distributed exclusively by CargoFax since 2020, arrive weekly. CargoFax added about 4.7 million records in a recent month.
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Step 1
Collection: customs records from each market
CargoFax sources customs records market by market: US Customs and Border Protection bill of lading records, Haiti customs import records under CargoFax's exclusive commercial rights since 2020, and customs records for the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru.
Each market keeps the fields its customs authority publishes. Some carry declared values, others bill of lading detail such as vessels, containers, and gross weight, and the record grain differs: bill of lading, declaration, or customs record. See coverage by market.
Step 2
Preparation: cleaned names and consistent HS codes
- Company names are cleaned and matched, so one company is not split across spellings. Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Dominican Republic records also carry national tax IDs (RFC, NIT, RUC, RNC), which identify companies more reliably than names.
- HS codes are taken from the record where present. Where a record lacks a reliable code, a model assigns one at the most precise level the description supports, from 2 to 10 digits, and flags it as assigned.
- US values: US trade values come from official US Census Bureau statistics by product, partner country, and port. US bills of lading are reported in gross weight and shipments, with same-month duplicates counted once.
- Haiti: each record keeps the bill of lading, vessel, containers, ports, importer, shipper, and gross weight as published.
Step 3
Checks: before and after each update
Each update is checked before it reaches Atlas, and records with model-assigned HS codes stay flagged so you can include or exclude them. Figures for the latest period may be revised as late records arrive, and the monthly reports say so in their methodology.
Step 4
Delivery: Atlas, Files, and free monthly reports
Atlas is the platform: Explorer to search and map, Vault to keep what you follow, with email updates on new records, Docs to attach your own documents to each record, Contacts to save, tag, and export the companies you find, Track for bill of lading and container tracking, and AI for plain-English questions.
Files delivers the data in bulk by FTP or API, in CSV, Excel, JSON, Parquet, for enterprises, universities, and platforms.
Monthly reports, free and public, will summarize each market from January 2025 onward.
How often does each market update?
| Market | Source records | Updates | History from |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Bill of lading (one record per shipment) | Daily | Imports January 2022; exports January 2020 |
| Haiti | Customs record | Weekly | November 2020 |
| Dominican Republic | Customs declaration line item | Monthly | January 2024 |
| Mexico | Customs declaration line item | Monthly | January 2023 |
| Colombia | Customs declaration line item | Monthly | January 2001 |
| Uruguay | Customs declaration (DUA) line item | Monthly | January 2016 |
| Argentina | Import declaration line item | Monthly | 2017 |
| Peru | Customs declaration line item | Weekly | January 2026 |
Atlas searches and downloads are unlimited in every market, Haiti included.
How CargoFax works: frequently asked questions
Where does CargoFax data come from?
From customs records in each market: US Customs and Border Protection bill of lading records, Haiti customs import records distributed exclusively by CargoFax since 2020, and customs records for the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru.
Is CargoFax data official?
CargoFax data comes from customs records, not surveys or estimates. US trade values come from official US Census Bureau statistics by product, partner country, and port, and US bills of lading are reported in gross weight and shipments. The six-digit HS code on US exports is derived from the cargo description and flagged as assigned.
How does CargoFax assign HS codes?
Latin American records carry national tariff codes whose first six digits are the international HS subheading. Where a record lacks a reliable HS code, a model assigns one at the most precise level the description supports, from 2 to 10 digits, and the code is flagged as assigned. For US exports, CargoFax derives a six-digit code from the cargo description.
How fast does new data arrive?
US import records arrive daily with about a one-day lag, and US exports monthly. Haiti and Peru are updated weekly. Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Argentina are updated monthly.
Can figures change after they are published?
Yes. Figures for the latest period may be revised as late records arrive.
How do customers receive the data?
In the Atlas platform (Explorer, Vault, Docs, Contacts, Track, and AI) or in bulk through Files, by FTP or API, in CSV, Excel, JSON, Parquet.
See the process on your data
A 30-minute demo shows the records for your products, how they are prepared, and how they reach your team.