EDI 301 Ocean Booking Confirmation Guide

The EDI 301 is the carrier's answer to your booking, and it carries the number every later document uses. You send a 300 booking request. The carrier sends back a 301 saying yes, yes with conditions, here is a counter offer, or no. When the answer is yes, the 301 gives you the booking number, the vessel and voyage you are on, the cutoff at the pier, and the depot where your empties are waiting.

This guide covers what the 301 carries, where it sits in the ocean flow, every segment you will map, a live sample that confirms two 40-foot high cubes from Shanghai, how to read a decline or a change, and the errors that leave cargo without space.

What Is an EDI 301?

An EDI 301 is the Confirmation (Ocean) transaction set defined by ASC X12, used by an ocean carrier to confirm a booking request and give the details of the space and equipment it has reserved. It travels in functional group RO (the GS01 value), the same group as the 300 request and the 303 booking cancellation.

Authoritative references for 301 work:

• The X12 transaction set catalog defines the 301 structure, segment order and loops
• Stedi's X12 004010 reference for the 301 lists the segments, elements and code values for release 004010, including the notes on the Y3 space confirmation
• The BIC container prefix register governs the four-letter owner codes in ISO 6346 container numbers, which appear when a carrier assigns specific equipment in N7
• Each ocean carrier publishes its own 301 implementation guide, which sets which action codes it sends, how it reports changes and where it puts cutoffs

Who sends it? The ocean carrier, or an NVOCC confirming its own bookings to its customers.

Who receives it? The party that sent the 300: an exporter, an importer on a buyer-controlled move, or a forwarder or NVOCC.

When is it sent? After the carrier processes the booking request. Carriers commonly send further 301s when the booking changes: a new vessel, a new sailing date, a changed equipment release, or a cancellation on their side.

Why does it matter? No 301, no booking. The booking number is what the depot asks for when your trucker collects the empties, what the terminal checks when the loaded container arrives, and what the 304, 310 and 315 reference afterwards.

Where the 301 Fits in Ocean EDI

Between the 301 and the 304 comes the physical work: the trucker collects the empties released on the 301, the shipper loads and seals them, and the loaded containers go back to the terminal before the cutoff. Those gate moves show up as 315 events to you and, at many terminals, as 322 events to the carrier.

Reading the Answer: Accepted, Conditional, Counter or Declined

The carrier's answer sits in two places. B104, the reservation action code (X12 element 558), uses these values:

The second place is Y301, the booking number. The X12 note for Y3 says that when the requested space is not available, the booking number is sent as the word decline. Check for it before you store Y301 as a booking number. Which action codes a carrier really uses, and whether it sends changes as U or as a fresh A, is in its guide.

Interactive Example: 301 Accepting Two 40-Foot High Cubes

The ocean carrier (SCAC BLUQ) answers the importer's 300 the day after it was sent. B1 echoes the importer's shipment reference, dates the booking and accepts it with action A. Y3 returns booking number BK7730412, a vessel departure on 4 November (a day later than requested), an estimated arrival at the port of discharge on 19 November, and a required pier date of 1 November with a 17:00 load time at the East Pier. Y4 releases two 45G1 empties at Shanghai from 24 October. The R4 loops repeat the route with the confirmed dates, and V1 names the vessel and voyage. All names, numbers and codes are fictional, and the booking number is the one used in the 310 and 315 samples.

Use the Plain English tab for a readable summary, or click any segment to break it down element by element.

301 Structure at a Glance

The table follows X12 release 004010 and lists the segments most carriers use.

Key Segments Explained

B1: Beginning Segment for Booking or Pick-up/Delivery

B1*BLUQ*CHI2610160412*20261017*A~

Match the 301 to your 300 on B102 first. It is the only number both sides had before the booking number existed.

Y3: Space Confirmation

Y3*BK7730412*BLUQ*20261104*20261119**EAST PIER*20261101*1700~

The required pier date and load time are what your trucker and shipper plan around. A loaded container that reaches the terminal after the cutoff risks missing the vessel. Compare Y303 with the sailing you asked for in Y101 of the 300, and flag the difference to whoever promised a ship date to the customer.

Y4: Container Release

Y4*BK7730412**20261024**2*45G1**UN*CNSHA~

Send the Y4 details to whoever is collecting the empties. The depot will want the booking number, and the trucker needs to know which depot and from which date. Some carriers name a specific depot in Y408/Y409 or in the R4 loop; check the guide.

R4 Loop with DTM: Confirmed Route

R4*L*UN*CNSHA*SHANGHAI*CN*EAST PIER TERMINAL~
DTM*369*20261104~
R4*D*UN*USLAX*LOS ANGELES*US~
DTM*371*20261119~

R401 gives the role of each point (R place of receipt, L port of loading, D port of discharge, E place of delivery, T transshipment port). The DTM dates are the carrier's plan: 369 estimated departure and 371 estimated arrival in this sample. A 301 that adds a T transshipment port you did not expect tells you the cargo is routed through a hub, which affects transit time.

V1: Vessel Identification

V1*9700017*MERIDIAN HARBOR*LR*118E*BLUQ***L~

The vessel on the 301 is the planned one. If the carrier later rolls the cargo to another sailing, a new 301 or the 315 feed will show it.

EDI 301 vs 300, 303, 310 and 990

The 990 is the truck-world cousin of the 301: both accept or decline a request for capacity. The 301 carries far more: the booking number, the vessel schedule, pier cutoffs and the equipment release.

Common 301 Errors and How to Prevent Them

301 Implementation Checklist

Before your first live 301 from an ocean carrier:

• Get the carrier's 301 implementation guide and confirm the X12 version in GS08 (004010 is common) and the RO functional group
• List the B104 action codes it sends, and how it signals a change, a counter offer and a decline
• Confirm where it puts cutoffs: Y307 and Y308, DTM segments, remarks, or all of them
• Confirm how the empty release is given and whether it names a depot
• Store the booking number against the purchase orders on the booking, so the 304, 310 and 315 can be joined to them
• Confirm the 997 you will send back for each 301
• Test an acceptance, a conditional acceptance, a counter offer, a decline, a change of vessel and a carrier cancellation

Our EDI document types reference shows the ocean sets beside the 850 purchase order and the 856 ASN. For the paper document the booking leads to, see our bill of lading glossary entry.

Where OrderSync Fits

The booking number on a 301 links a container to the purchase orders it carries. That link is only useful if those orders were captured correctly, and for many shippers and importers they arrive as a mix of EDI 850s, PDFs, emails and spreadsheets.

OrderSync reads inbound orders in any format, matches customers, items and units to your catalog, and outputs clean ERP data or valid X12. Paste any 301 into the free EDI inspector to see it parsed segment by segment with a plain-English summary and any structural errors explained, or book a 15-minute walkthrough to see your own orders processed.

Frequently Asked Questions