EDI 315 Status Details (Ocean): Codes and Guide

The EDI 315 is how you know where your container is between the factory and your dock. Every time a container hits a milestone, the ocean carrier sends a 315 with a status code, a time and a place. Importers use the feed to plan drayage and receiving, forwarders and NVOCCs use it to update customers, and everyone uses it to see free time running out before the terminal invoice arrives.

This guide covers what the 315 reports, the status codes you can rely on, where it sits beside the 300, 301 and 310, every segment you will map, two live examples (a vessel departure and three import milestones), how it differs from the motor-carrier 214, and the errors that leave containers untracked.

What Is an EDI 315?

An EDI 315 is the Status Details (Ocean) transaction set defined by ASC X12, used by an ocean carrier to report status or event details for shipments or containers. The X12 description says it can carry one status or event for many shipments or containers, or more than one status or event for one shipment or container. In practice, most carriers send one 315 per event per container. The 315 travels in functional group QO (the GS01 value).

Authoritative references for 315 work:

• The X12 transaction set catalog defines the 315 structure and the shipment status code list used in B4
• Stedi's X12 004010 reference for the 315 lists the segments, elements and code values for release 004010
• The UN/LOCODE list maintained by UNECE supplies the five-character location codes (such as CNSHA or USLAX) most carriers use for event locations
• The BIC container prefix register governs the four-letter owner codes in ISO 6346 container numbers, which the 315 carries in B4
• Each ocean carrier publishes its own 315 implementation guide, listing the status codes it actually sends and how you subscribe to them

Who sends it? The ocean carrier, or an NVOCC or visibility provider passing carrier events on.

Who receives it? Whoever subscribed to the shipment: the shipper, the consignee or importer, the forwarder or NVOCC, and sometimes a customs broker or trucker.

When is it sent? At each event the carrier records for the container, from empty pickup at origin to empty return at destination. Some carriers also send estimated events, such as a revised vessel arrival.

Why does it matter? Ocean freight runs on free time. A container that is available at the terminal but not picked up, or out of the terminal and not returned, starts costing money under the carrier's tariff or your contract. The 315 tells you when those clocks start.

Where the 315 Fits in Ocean EDI

The 315 is the status feed in a family of ocean transaction sets:

The 315 references the same numbers as the rest of the flow: the booking number from the 301, the bill of lading number from the 310, and the container numbers. Your systems should be able to find a container from any of the three.

EDI 315 Status Codes

The event is coded in B403, X12 data element 157 (Shipment Status Code). The same element is shared with other transportation sets and has well over a hundred values, but a carrier's 315 guide uses a short list. The codes below are taken from the X12 004010 code list for element 157 and are the ones ocean 315 guides most often use. Check your carrier's guide for its own subset.

Export and ocean leg

At a transshipment port you will see UV and then a second AE and VD for the next vessel, so do not treat the first UV as arrival at destination without checking the location.

Import release and delivery

Rail and inland moves

Holds and exceptions

Some carriers send codes from outside this list or use their own codes for events such as a hold release or a change of vessel. Those meanings come only from that carrier's guide. If a code you receive is not in your table, log it and look it up there rather than guessing.

Estimated vs actual

VA and VD mean "scheduled to arrive or depart, or has arrived or departed". The difference between an estimate and a fact is in the dates. In the samples below, a DTM after the port's R4 segment uses 139 for estimated and 140 for actual. Read the qualifier before you tell a customer the vessel has arrived.

Interactive Example: 315 Vessel Departure

An ocean carrier (SCAC BLUQ) reports that container QXZU4128732, a loaded 40-foot high cube, sailed from Shanghai on voyage 118E. B4 carries the status code VD, the date and time, the location and the container. The N9 segments carry the bill of lading, booking and purchase order numbers. Q2 names the vessel. The R4 loops give the place of receipt, the port of loading with the actual departure, and the port of discharge with an estimated arrival. All names, numbers and codes for the parties, carrier, vessel and container are fictional.

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

Interactive Example: Import Milestones (UV, AV, OA)

The same container arrives at Los Angeles. One interchange carries three 315 transactions: unloaded from vessel (UV), available for delivery (AV) and out-gate (OA). The out-gate message adds the place of delivery, the importer's warehouse in Ontario, California. These three events are the ones an import team watches most closely, because they decide when to dispatch a trucker and when free time starts to matter.

315 Structure at a Glance

The table follows X12 release 004010. The 315 is short: one status, the references, the vessel, and the locations.

Key Segments Explained

B4: Beginning Segment for Inquiry or Reply

B4***VD*20261104*1830*CNSHA*QXZU*412873*L*45G1*CNSHA*UN*2~

B407, B408 and B413 together make the container number: QXZU4128732. Some carriers send the check digit as part of B408, so normalize container numbers before you match them. Equipment type codes (B410) vary by carrier: some send ISO size-type codes, others older four-digit codes. B401 (special handling) and B402 (inquiry request number) are rarely used on carrier-initiated 315s.

N9: Reference Identification

N9*BM*BLUQSHA2611045~
N9*BN*BK7730412~
N9*PO*4500918832~

Q2: Status Details (Ocean)

Q2*9700017*LR**20261104*20261120****118E***L*MERIDIAN HARBOR~

The vessel name and voyage let you group every container on the same sailing, which is how you spot a delayed vessel before each container's events catch up.

SG: Shipment Status

SG*AE***20261104*1210~

Some carriers use SG to repeat earlier events in each 315 so a receiver that missed one message still has the history. Neither sample above uses it.

R4 and DTM: Port or Terminal

R4*L*UN*CNSHA*SHANGHAI*CN*EAST PIER TERMINAL~
DTM*140*20261104*1830~
R4*D*UN*USLAX*LOS ANGELES*US~
DTM*139*20261119*0800~

The standard requires at least one R4. Carriers vary in how many they send: some send the full route on every 315, others only the location of the event. The estimated arrival at the port of discharge (R4*D with DTM*139) is the date most import teams plan around, and it changes. Keep the latest value and the history.

EDI 315 vs 214, 310 and 856

The 214 and 315 do the same job for different modes, with different segments. The 214 puts the status in AT7 with a separate reason code; the 315 puts it in B4 with the container number in the same segment. A container moving door to door often produces both: 315s from the ocean carrier for the port-to-port leg, and 214s from the trucker once it leaves the terminal on a drayage move. That drayage leg is often tendered with a 204 load tender and billed with a 210 freight invoice. Tie both feeds to the same container number and you have one timeline.

Common 315 Errors and How to Prevent Them

315 Implementation Checklist

Before your first live 315 feed from an ocean carrier, NVOCC or visibility provider:

• Get the carrier's 315 implementation guide and confirm the X12 version in GS08 (004010 is common)
• Get its list of status codes and add any carrier-specific ones to your mapping
• Agree how shipments are subscribed: by B/L, booking number or container
• Confirm where the container number, B/L and booking numbers appear, and whether the check digit is separate
• Confirm whether event times are local and how estimates are flagged
• Map each status to the action your team takes (dispatch, customer notice, receiving appointment)
• Join 315 events to the 310 by B/L number and to purchase orders by PO number
• Confirm the 997 you will send back for each 315
• Test an export sequence, an import sequence, a transshipment, a rail move and a revised estimate

If ocean EDI is new to your team, our EDI document types reference shows where transportation sets sit next to the 850 purchase order and the 856 ASN. The SCAC code glossary entry explains the carrier codes used in the envelope and the 310.

Where OrderSync Fits

A container status is only as useful as your record of what is in the container. That record starts with the purchase order, and for many importers the orders behind a container arrive in 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, so the PO numbers on your bookings and 315 events point at accurate orders. Paste any 315 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