Food and beverage
How to declare transhipments in a catch certificate in TRACES
At sea it goes in Box 6, in port in Box 7. Nobody will mention it: for the supplier it is routine.
A transhipment means the catch changed vessel before reaching the destination port. For the supplier it is a routine operation not worth mentioning; for the catch certificate it is a mandatory box with a geographic position. That asymmetry —routine for one, requirement for the other— is why transhipments are the most frequent cause of rejection and the least anticipated.
Two boxes, two sets of data
| Aspect | Box 6 — at sea | Box 7 — within a port |
|---|---|---|
| When | Goods pass vessel to vessel at sea | The transfer happens in a port facility |
| What it asks | Estimated weight, date, position, receiving vessel | Port, date, port authority, receiving vessel |
| Special format | Degrees-minutes-seconds | — |
| Who knows | The master | The master and the port |
Important
Position in degrees-minutes-seconds is the data that never arrives first time. A vessel owner describing the transhipment over the phone will tell you roughly where; the certificate wants coordinates. If it is not requested in that explicit format, something unusable arrives and you go back to ask — to somebody who may be at sea again.
How to declare a transhipment at sea
- 1
From «Box 3», click «+ Transhipment»
Transhipments hang off the product description; they are not a separate section.
- 2
Choose «+ Add transhipment at sea»
The option corresponding to Box 6.
- 3
Fill estimated weight, date, position and receiving vessel
Position in degrees-minutes-seconds.
- 4
If applicable, click «Add to Box 10»
Optional and case-dependent.
How to declare a transhipment within a port
- 1
From «Box 3», click «+ Transhipment»
Same entry point.
- 2
Choose «+ Add transhipment within a port»
The Box 7 option.
- 3
Fill port, date, port authority and receiving vessel
No coordinates here: the port identifies the place.
Watch out
The question to ask at purchase, and almost nobody does: «did the goods change vessel at any point?». Put that way it gets answered. Put as «send me the documentation» it never surfaces, because the supplier does not consider a transhipment to be documentation — it is logistics. And when it surfaces, it surfaces with the certificate half-done and the vessel out of reach.
Worth knowing
Procedure verified in 2026-08 against the European Commission's official help (https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/IMSOC/tracesnt-help), transhipments in the catch certificate. TRACES is operated by the Commission and may change without notice. Whether this applies to you is for the competent authority and your adviser to determine.
›Must every transhipment be declared?
Scope is determined by the competent authority; the system records them in Box 6 and Box 7.
›What format does the position use?
Degrees, minutes and seconds.
›Where are the buttons?
Inside «Box 3», under «+ Transhipment».
A real case
The situation
The transhipment surfaces with the certificate half-done.
What you do
- Asks about transhipments when closing the purchase
What you get
The box is filled without stopping the process.
The situation
The vessel owner gives the position as «near the Canaries».
What you do
- Requests position in degrees, minutes and seconds
What you get
The data the system accepts arrives.
The situation
It is unclear whether it happened at sea or in port.
What you do
- Records the transhipment type with the rest of the data
What you get
Choosing between Box 6 and Box 7 is straightforward.
The situation
The certificate is rejected and nobody knows why.
What you do
- Keeps the supplier's answer about transhipments
What you get
The cause is located without reconstruction.
This article answers
- transhipment at sea catch certificate
- box 6 box 7 transhipment traces
- declaring a vessel change in catch
- transhipment within a port fisheries documentation
- catch certificate rejected over transhipment