Artificial Intelligence

Query US Bill of Lading Records with an MCP Server or CLI

Bill of lading data shows who shipped what, to whom and through which port. Most guides explain what it means. This one shows a real record, field by field, and how to pull records into your AI agent or a script with the EximAgent MCP…

October 27, 2026By Juno, EximAgent Research4 min readView as Markdown

Read bill of lading records in your agent — EximAgent MCP server and CLI tutorial hero

If you want the business side first, read bill of lading data: what it reveals about buyers and what customs data can and cannot tell you.

Set up (2 minutes)

Bash

curl -fsSL https://cli.eximagent.ai/install | sh

irm https://cli.eximagent.ai/install.ps1 | iex

eximagent login

For an agent, add the MCP server (https://mcp.eximagent.ai/mcp):

Bash

claude mcp add --transport http eximagent https://mcp.eximagent.ai/mcp --scope user

Other clients are covered in the MCP docs. It's free to start, and you sign in with Google, so there's no key to paste.

Pull records for a product and destination

Bash

eximagent shipments search --hs6 940511 --dest US

In an agent, ask: "Show me recent US import records for HS 940511."

What one record contains

From a US CBP import record returned on 27 Oct 2026 (company names removed):

Field	What it tells you	Watch out for
`recordId`	Stable ID for fetching the full record later	—
`shipmentDate`, `arrivalDate`	When the goods left and when they arrived	Some records list a shipment date after the arrival date. Treat the dates as filed, not as checked.
`exporterName`, `importerName`	The parties on the document	The consignee may be a forwarder or distributor, not the end buyer
`origin`, `destination`	Country lane	—
`hsCode`	Code on the filing	Manifest codes can be wrong (see below)
`productDescription`	Free-text goods description	Often the most useful field for checking the code
`quantity`, `weightKg`	Size of the shipment	Units vary
`fobUsd`, `customsValueUsd`	Declared value	Usually empty on US manifest data
`transportMode`, `portOfLoading`, `portOfUnloading`, `vesselName`	Route and carrier	—
`billOfLading`	The B/L number	—
`normalizationConfidence`	How sure the cleanup step is about the normalised fields	0.875 on this record

To see more about a single record:

Bash

eximagent shipments get --id <recordId> --view detail
eximagent evidence show --id <recordId> --normalized

--view also accepts logistics, financials, parties and evidence. evidence show --normalized puts the English-normalised fields next to the raw source record.

A real example of why you read the description

HS code 940511 filed with goods description DRILL DRIVER — always check the description — Code says one thing, description says another — always check the description against the HS code.

In the same pull, one record filed under 940511 (LED ceiling luminaires) described its goods as "DRILL DRIVER". The HS code on a manifest is whatever the filer entered. Before you count a company as a buyer of your product, check the description against the code.

Read the coverage envelope before you conclude anything

Coverage status scale: covered, partial, limited, unavailable — marker on partial — Coverage status scale: covered, partial, limited, unavailable.

Every shipment query returns a coverage block next to the rows. For this query it said:

status: partial
Period: June 2023 to August 2026
A note that only 306 of 1,628 rows in scope declared a shipment value, because US CBP is a manifest feed

The status field means:

Status	What you may conclude
`covered`	Strong evidence: the query saw the lane properly
`partial`	Directional only. Trends are usable, absolutes are not
`limited`	Directional, and weakly so
`unavailable`	Nothing usable for that query or period

No rows doesn't mean no trade. It may mean the lane isn't visible. Report the coverage along with any finding. More detail is in coverage and data sources.

Don't compute market metrics from raw rows

shipments search returns at most 1,000 rows per page. It's for browsing. For questions like "who buys repeatedly" or "is the price rising", use the signal commands, which aggregate over the full matching data on the server:

Bash

eximagent shipments buyer-recurrence --hs6 940511 --dest US
eximagent shipments market-signals --hs6 940511 --dest US
eximagent shipments price-trend --hs6 940511 --dest US
eximagent shipments route-signals --hs6 940511 --dest US

From records to a shortlist

Pull records for your HS code and market.
Drop rows where the description doesn't match your product.
Use buyer-recurrence to find importers that buy repeatedly, not once.
Check each company's website and catalogue before contacting anyone.

If you want your AI team to do this end to end, EximAgent's Outbound teammate finds buyers and drafts the emails. Your own AI agent sends them from your own mailbox.

FAQ

Is US bill of lading data public?
US CBP releases import manifest data used in these records (see Electronic Vessel Manifest Confidentiality and 19 CFR 103.31; parties may request confidential treatment of names and addresses). That is why US records are often the most detailed. Coverage elsewhere varies, so check the envelope for every lane. More on reading the envelope is in coverage and data sources.

Why are values missing?
US manifest records usually don't declare a value. The coverage note shows how many rows do.

Can my AI agent query this directly?
Yes. Add the MCP server, or in a chat app add the connector, and ask in plain words.