A manifest, customs manifest or cargo document is a

document A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ''Documentum'', which denotes a "teaching" o ...

listing the

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

, passengers, and

crew A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the tasks involved ...

of a

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

, or

vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), ...

, for the use of customs and other officials. Where such a list is limited to identifying passengers, it is a passenger manifest or passenger list or bag manifest; conversely, a list limited to identifying cargo is a cargo manifest or cargo list. The manifest may be used by people having an interest in the transport to ensure that passengers and cargo listed as having been placed on board the transport at the beginning of its passage continue to be on board when it arrives at its destination.

This document, made up generally by the ship's broker, from the contents of the bills of lading, contains a specification of the nature and quantity of the cargo laden, and is generally attested officially, and in some countries notarially. The prize laws seldom mention this paper; nor is it general; but yet of essential importance in case of search, as well for belligerents, as for neutrals in procuring a speedy dismissal. It is usual to require it at the
custom Custom, customary, or consuetudinary may refer to: Traditions, laws, and religion * Convention (norm), a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom * Norm (social), a r ...
house. (p301)

In this way, a cargo manifest is like a passport except that it is used for

goods In economics, goods are items that satisfy human wants and provide utility, for example, to a consumer making a purchase of a satisfying product. A common distinction is made between goods which are transferable, and services, which are not t ...

instead of (or in addition to)

person A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

s; the manifest is evidence to the

nationality Nationality is a legal identification of a person in international law, establishing the person as a subject, a ''national'', of a sovereign state. It affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the ...

of the goods, the absence of contraband, and that property belonging to belligerents is not laden on board of the vessel. Vessels are under no legal obligation to carry a manifest and, indeed, it is only necessary for neutral vessels in a time of war.

Cargo manifest versus bill of lading

A cargo manifest and a

bill of lading A bill of lading () (sometimes abbreviated as B/L or BOL) is a document issued by a carrier (or their agent) to acknowledge receipt of cargo for shipment. Although the term historically related only to carriage by sea, a bill of lading may toda ...

may carry similar information and the concepts are not always clearly distinguished. In some cases, a single document may serve both purposes. In general, a bill of lading serves as a

legal instrument Legal instrument is a legal term of art that is used for any formally executed written document that can be formally attributed to its author, records and formally expresses a legally enforceable act, process, or contractual duty, obligation, or ...

focusing on and documenting such issues as ownership, whereas a cargo manifest is often more concerned with physical aspects of the cargo, such as

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force acting on the object due to gravity. Some standard textbooks define weight as a vector quantity, the gravitational force acting on the object. Others define weight as a scalar qua ...

and

size Size in general is the magnitude or dimensions of a thing. More specifically, ''geometrical size'' (or ''spatial size'') can refer to linear dimensions ( length, width, height, diameter, perimeter), area, or volume. Size can also be m ...

. When the cargo is being shipped by several different shipping companies on the same vessel, there will usually be separate bills of lading for each company, but only a single consolidated cargo manifest. On the other hand, if the cargo contains dangerous goods, there may be a separate dangerous cargo manifest. A manifest can be exchanged for commercial purposes, for example the freight manifest exchanged between two liner agents in the departure and the arrival ports. The manifest can also be prepared for regulatory purposes, specifically the customs manifest which needs to be sent to customs when arriving in the first port in a country. The difference in information on the customs manifest and the freight manifest is usually marginal, but the legal status of the two documents is completely different.

Uses

Customs and excise

Customs authorities may require cargo-carrying vessels or vehicles to provide information on the cargo manifest such as its consignor, consignee, quantity of goods, origin, destination and value.Business Dictionary.com,
Manifest
", retrieved 23 May 2013

International travel

Immigration authorities may require passenger-carrying vessels or vehicles to provide a passenger manifest listing information such as names and ports of embarkation and disembarkation.

Disasters

In case of

disaster A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...

s, passenger manifests may be helpful in identifying casualties and notifying families of passengers. Cargo manifests can support

insurance claim Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

s for lost goods.

Archaeology

Manifests can be useful tools for

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

. For example, researchers used old ship's manifests to recreate the available amenities in their restoration of the historic Custom House Plaza in Monterey, California,Maxine Cass, ''Northern California Off the Beaten Path, 8th: A Guide to Unique Places'' (2009), p. 78. which was built in 1821 and remains the oldest public building in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

References

{{Authority control Aircraft operations Documents