SIERRA LEONE

Electronic Cargo Tracking Note

The Republic of Sierra Leone is a country located on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by 2 countries: in the South-East by LIBERIA and in the North-East by GUINEA.

The Sierra Leone Ports Authority in 2002 issued a decree that requires all sea cargo destined for their country to have a Cargo Tracking Note (CTN).

Some shipping lines may not load cargo without the CTN number.

Port

• FREETOWN

Documents and Informations required

• Bill of Lading or booking confirmation from the Shipping line
• Commercial invoice: currency must be mentioned in $ or €
• Freight charges in the same currency as mentioned on the commercial invoice
• H.S. code
• ETS & ETA
• Country of Origin of the goods
• Custom document

Additional information

• It is not mandatory to mention a CTN number for Sierra Leone on the Master Bill of Lading
• A pre-validated ECTN document should be completed and validated within 5 working days. If not, the ECTN will be cancelled. All costs involved will be for the applicant’s account.

Procedure

• Submit the required documents by email or online.
• You will be sent a draft for pre-validation and an invoice, typically within the same day.
• Once your payment has been received and you approve the draft, a validation will be sent with the CTN number.

Timeline

• The ECTN must be validated before the vessel arrives at the destination.
• The CTN is validated by the authorities in the destination country, the process from submitting a request to final validation can take more than 3 days.

Penalties

• Cargo arriving without a Cargo Tracking Note may be subject of fines and delays.