Importing into Egypt: how ACID, Nafeza and CargoX work

When this article was first written the Egyptian filing requirement applied to sea freight. It now applies to air as well: since 1 January 2026 every air consignment destined for Egypt, regardless of size or value, must have a valid ACID registered on Nafeza before it is loaded onto the aircraft.

Two details matter more on air than they ever did on sea. The filing is expected ahead of shipment rather than at departure, which on an air booking can mean hours rather than days. And the commercial invoice must follow the structured Nafeza template rather than the exporter's own layout — a rejection on format costs the same as a rejection on substance. Full detail is on the ACI for air freight page.

The number is the key to everything that follows. It is printed on the commercial invoice, on the packing list and on the transport document, and it is quoted in the manifest data the carrier files. When the container is discharged at Alexandria, Damietta, Port Said or Ain Sokhna, the customs office opens the file that the ACID number points to and reads the declaration against it.

The importer in Egypt owns this step. The supplier abroad does not create the number, the carrier does not create it, and a forwarder cannot create it in the importer's place. We tell the importer what the entry needs, we collect the number the moment it is issued, and we push it into every document and every message that leaves origin.

The importer holds a registered account and enters the shipment before it moves: the exporter's legal identity and address, the goods description, the value and the currency, the port of discharge, the transport mode and the shipping window. Nafeza returns the ACID number against that entry.

The entry is not a formality. It is the version of the shipment that Egyptian customs treats as true. Everything produced afterwards, from the invoice the supplier issues to the bill of lading the carrier signs to the declaration the broker lodges, is measured against it. A careless entry produces a correction at the port, and a correction at the port costs time the cargo does not have.

This is the step that catches first-time shippers into Egypt. The documents do not travel with the cargo and they do not chase it after departure. They are pushed ahead of it, digitally, out of the origin country. A supplier in Guangzhou, Istanbul, Mumbai or Hamburg either holds a CargoX account or works through a party who does.

We carry that account for the shipments we control. When cargo loads from Jebel Ali on our bill of lading we prepare the set, match every field to the Nafeza entry and transmit. When the supplier ships on their own documents we brief them field by field before the booking is confirmed, rather than after the vessel has sailed.

The importer in Egypt registers on Nafeza, obtains the ACID number and sends it to the exporter. The exporter at origin prints the ACID number on the commercial documents and transmits the set through CargoX. The forwarder aligns the booking, the bill of lading and the carrier manifest with the same data. The customs broker in Egypt lodges the declaration against the file the ACID number opens.

Most failures on this corridor are coordination failures rather than customs failures. The importer registers the shipment against one description, the supplier invoices a second, and the booking carries a third. Nothing is wrong in isolation. The file simply does not reconcile, and the container waits while three parties in three time zones agree on one sentence.

The commercial invoice carries the exporter and importer identities, the goods description, unit values, currency and delivery terms. The packing list carries package counts, marks and numbers, gross and net weights and dimensions. The bill of lading carries shipper, consignee, notify party, container and seal numbers and the described cargo. The certificate of origin, issued at origin by the competent chamber of commerce, states where the goods were produced.

Regulated commodities carry more: conformity documentation, health or agricultural certificates, and registration of the foreign manufacturer where the goods fall under Egypt's registration requirement for imported products. We confirm what a given commodity needs before the movement is quoted, through our customs clearance desk.