ICEGATE Shipping Bill Status: 7 Easy Steps to Track Your Export

Once your Shipping Bill has been filed and accepted into the customs system, the ICEGATE shipping bill status tells you exactly where that export consignment stands. Exporters can check it free on the ICEGATE portal as a guest, without logging in and without a digital signature. The check takes under two minutes and needs three details: the shipping bill number, the filing date and the customs location code. Before you start, keep the checklist copy from your customs broker in front of you. If your portal account or AD Code mapping is not yet in place, review our ICEGATE Registration Services.

The path changed in February 2026. Guides still pointing at Public Enquiries 1.0 are stale, and following a retired path is the fastest way to conclude your shipping bill does not exist when it does.

Who This ICEGATE Shipping Bill Status Guide Applies To

This ICEGATE shipping bill status guide is for exporters, or the Customs House Agent filing on their behalf, tracking a Shipping Bill through Indian Customs after filing. It covers sea, air and ICD exports filed on the EDI system. Manual and courier shipping bills sit under separate document categories and are noted where relevant. The exporter remains responsible for monitoring clearance and refund status even when a CHA handles the filing. For wider support, review our Import Export Consultancy Services.

What ICEGATE Shipping Bill Status Actually Tells You

A Shipping Bill is the export declaration filed with Indian Customs before goods leave the country. Once your customs broker files it into the ICES system, the document moves through a fixed sequence of checks.

The ICEGATE shipping bill status screen is a live read of that sequence. It answers three questions at once.

Has customs assessed your declaration or parked it with a query. Has Let Export Order been granted, which is the moment your cargo is legally free to leave the port. Has the carrier filed the Export General Manifest after departure.

That third point is where exporters lose money. Under Rule 96 of the CGST Rules, the Shipping Bill is itself treated as the refund application for IGST paid on exports, and the refund only moves once the EGM and a valid GSTR-3B are in place. No EGM means no refund, however clean the rest of your file looks.

What You Will Need Before You Check

Detail	Where to find it	Common mistake
Shipping Bill number	Checklist or acknowledgement from your CHA, export document file	Using the invoice number instead
Shipping Bill date	The filing date, not the sailing date	Entering the dispatch or invoice date
Customs location code	The port or ICD where the bill was filed, such as INNSA1 for Nhava Sheva	Selecting the gateway port for an ICD filing

If you are unsure of the location code, ask your customs broker for the checklist copy. The six character code sits on the header.

What changed in 2026: ICEGATE consolidated every document enquiry into Public Enquiries 2.0 in February 2026, and CBIC published the Public Enquiries user manual on the ICEGATE site. Legacy enquiry links and standalone status pages were retired. Verify the current menu path on the official ICEGATE portal before following any older guide.

Step-by-Step: ICEGATE Shipping Bill Status Workflow

Step 1: Open the Official Portal

Go to icegate.gov.in in any browser. Use the official domain only, since lookalike sites harvest exporter data and offer paid tracking for a service customs provides free. No account is needed for a guest status check.

Step 2: Hover Over Services

The main navigation opens with the full service list. Do not click through to the login screen. Guest enquiry sits inside the Services menu, not behind authentication.

Step 3: Click Enquiry

This intermediate step is new. Public Enquiries no longer sits directly under Services, which is why older walkthroughs appear to have a missing menu item. Older bookmarked enquiry URLs no longer resolve.

Step 4: Select Public Enquiries 2.0

The consolidated dashboard opens with tiles for every enquiry customs supports, including Challan Enquiry, Warehouse Code Enquiry, SB in RBI EDPMS, Status of BE in RBI IDPMS and Document Status. Note the EDPMS tile. It becomes relevant later in this guide.

Step 5: Choose Document Status

The panel lists document types including Shipping Bill Enquiry, Air Consol, ICD BL Status, Air IGM and SAM IGM. Manual, courier and postal shipping bills appear as separate categories, so select the one matching how your document was filed.

Step 6: Open Shipping Bill Enquiry and Select Location

Select your customs location from the dropdown, then enter the Shipping Bill number and Shipping Bill date. The location field is mandatory. A valid shipping bill searched against the wrong location returns nothing at all, which is the single most common false alarm.

Step 7: Search and Read Every Tab

The ICEGATE shipping bill status result opens across multiple tabs. Read it as a timeline rather than a single word, since the stage carrying the most recent date is where your consignment actually stands. If an error code appears, the screen carries a link to the full error code list. An empty LEO date means the goods have not been released for export yet, whatever anyone at the port said on the phone.

ICEGATE Shipping Bill Status Stages Explained

Each ICEGATE shipping bill status stage carries a different action for the exporter.

Stage	What it means	Your next move
Filed	Declaration accepted into ICES, job number generated	Nothing. Wait for assessment
Under assessment	Officer is verifying value, classification and scheme claims	Keep invoice and packing list ready
Query raised	Customs wants a clarification or a document	Reply through your CHA the same day. Queries are the single biggest delay
Assessed	Declaration accepted, any export duty or cess determined	Move to examination
Examination or goods registered	Cargo presented and checked at the port under Risk Management System routing	Coordinate with your CHA and the CFS
LEO granted	Let Export Order issued. Goods are cleared to leave India	Hand over to the carrier
EGM filed	Carrier has declared departure to customs	Refund and incentive clocks start
Closed	Shipping Bill fully processed	Archive the copy for audit

Note the gap between the last two. LEO is granted by customs. The EGM is filed by the shipping line or airline under Section 41 of the Customs Act, 1962. Two different parties, and the second one does not answer to you unless you chase it in writing.

Why ICEGATE Shipping Bill Status Shows No Record Found

This message almost never means the Shipping Bill is missing. In practice it is one of five things.

• Wrong customs location. The most frequent cause by a distance. An export filed at an ICD must be searched under that ICD, not under the gateway port the container later passes through.
• Wrong date. The field wants the filing date. Exporters routinely enter the sailing date or the invoice date.
• Number formatting. Drop spaces, added leading zeros and any internal prefix your CHA uses for its own reference.
• Checked too early. Data moves from the port EDI system to the enquiry layer with a short lag. Wait a few hours after filing before drawing conclusions.
• Manual or courier filing. Those shipping bills sit under separate document categories in the enquiry panel, not under the standard option.

If all five are ruled out and ICEGATE shipping bill status still returns nothing, the filing itself may have failed at the broker’s end. Ask for the ICES job number as proof of acceptance.

ICEGATE Shipping Bill Status on the Old Portal and ICEGATE 1.5

Bookmarked tracking links from the old site no longer resolve, and there is no separate lookup for older shipping bills. Historical ICEGATE shipping bill status records are searched through the same Public Enquiries 2.0 path, using the customs location code that was in force when the bill was filed.

Logging in adds three things a guest cannot see. The signed assessed copy through the document download option. Refund and scroll status. Rectification of an incorrect EDPMS status and foreign exchange realisation details, which the user manual explicitly restricts to logged in users.

If you have no portal identity yet, our guide on how to register on ICEGATE covers the documents and the Class 3 DSC requirement, and ICEGATE ID vs IEC explains why the two are not interchangeable.

The SB in RBI EDPMS Enquiry Most Exporters Never Open

Public Enquiries 2.0 carries a separate tile called SB in RBI EDPMS. It shows your Shipping Bill along with the date it was transmitted to the Reserve Bank of India.

This matters because EDPMS is how your bank tracks whether export proceeds have been realised against each Shipping Bill. An entry that never reached EDPMS, or reached it with wrong details, leaves the export open in your bank’s records long after the cargo has gone and the customer has paid.

Check it once a quarter alongside your ICEGATE shipping bill status routine. Fixing a transmission error six weeks after shipment is administrative. Fixing it when your authorised dealer flags an overdue export bill is not.

IGST Refund Codes Tied to Your ICEGATE Shipping Bill Status

Once ICEGATE shipping bill status shows both LEO and EGM, the system matches your Shipping Bill against the export invoices declared in GSTR-1 Table 6A and returns a response code. Log in and use Services, then Refunds, then Track Refund Status.

Code	Meaning	Corrective action
SB000	Validated successfully	None. Scroll generation follows
SB001	Shipping Bill number, date or port code does not match the GST data	Amend through Table 9A of GSTR-1
SB002	EGM not filed	Chase the carrier in writing
SB003	GSTIN mismatch between Shipping Bill and GST return	Amend through Table 9A
SB004	Record already received and validated	No action needed
SB005	Invoice number mismatch between Shipping Bill and GSTR-1	Approach the customs location for manual validation
SB006	Gateway EGM missing, typical for ICD exports	Take it up with gateway port customs

The official descriptions are published in the ICEGATE help section. Several popular blogs swap SB003 and SB005. Acting on the wrong code sends you to the GST portal when you should be at the customs house.

SB005 usually has one root cause. The business raises one invoice series for GST and a different one for customs. Align the two series and the error stops recurring.

One more trap sits after SB000. A validated Shipping Bill still will not pay out if the bank account has not cleared PFMS validation or if an alert is running against your IEC. Confirm the IEC is active on the DGFT portal before escalating anywhere else.

How to Download the Assessed Shipping Bill Copy

Guest enquiry shows ICEGATE shipping bill status. It does not release the document.

Log in with your registered credentials and use the document download option from the dashboard. What you get is the final assessed version, which is what banks, auditors and GST officers ask for during scrutiny. A draft or checklist copy from your CHA is not a substitute.

Common Errors That Stall ICEGATE Shipping Bill Status Progress

• Values converted at the wrong rate: Customs applies the notified rate in force on the filing date, not your bank rate. Our ICEGATE exchange rate guide explains how that rate is fixed.
• AD Code not mapped: Without a registered Authorised Dealer code the Shipping Bill cannot be filed at that location. Per CBIC Instruction No. 25/2023-Customs, AD Code registration is a single registration valid across all Indian customs ports.
• Bank account not registered for incentives: Drawback, RoDTEP and IGST credits need a validated account on the portal. Complete export promotion bank account registration before the first shipment.
• Scheme intent omitted at filing: RoDTEP and drawback claims must be declared in the Shipping Bill when it is filed. They cannot be inserted later.
• HS code and description mismatch: Classification that does not match the goods invites a query, an examination order, or both.
• Query reply sent to the wrong desk: An EGM amendment goes through the customs CRU section, not the assessing group. Misdirected replies add weeks.

How JPARKS Helps With ICEGATE Shipping Bill Status

Three things are worth carrying away from this guide. The path is Services, Enquiry, Public Enquiries 2.0, Document Status, Shipping Bill Enquiry, and the customs location field is mandatory. LEO and EGM are filed by two different parties, so a granted LEO does not mean your refund can validate. The refund response code tells you which system to fix, with SB001, SB003 and SB005 pointing at GSTR-1 data and SB002 and SB006 pointing at the carrier.

JPARKS INDIA handles ICEGATE registration, AD Code mapping, IGCR, MOOWR, SVB and IGST refund follow up for 500+ importers and exporters since 2018, with 40 years of EXIM compliance experience and a 5.0 Google rating. We deal with assessment queries, EGM amendments and SB005 manual validations as routine work.

If your ICEGATE shipping bill status has not moved in a week, or a refund has been sitting unvalidated for a month, send us the Shipping Bill number and the port. We will tell you where it is stuck and what it takes to clear it. Visit JPARKS INDIA or use the Contact Page.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I check ICEGATE shipping bill status without logging in?

Yes. Document status through Public Enquiries 2.0 is a guest service. Login is only needed for the signed assessed copy, refund and scroll tracking, and EDPMS rectification.

2. How long does ICEGATE shipping bill status take to show LEO after filing?

Clean declarations at EDI ports are typically released within a few working days. A query, an examination order under Risk Management System routing, or a scheme claim under scrutiny will extend that timeline.

3. ICEGATE shipping bill status shows LEO but the IGST refund has not arrived. Why?

Check the EGM first. LEO is issued by customs while the EGM is filed by the carrier after departure, and the refund cannot validate until the EGM matches your Shipping Bill.

4. What does SB005 mean and can I amend it?

SB005 flags an invoice number mismatch between the Shipping Bill and GSTR-1. In many cases it cannot be corrected by amendment alone, and the file goes to the customs location for manual validation under the relevant CBIC circulars.

5. Is Public Enquiries 1.0 still available?

No. The legacy enquiry pages were retired when Public Enquiries 2.0 went live in February 2026, and old bookmarked tracking links no longer work. Confirm the current path on the portal before following any older guide.

6. Who files the EGM, me or my customs broker?

Neither. The person in charge of the conveyance, meaning the shipping line or airline, files the export manifest under Section 41 of the Customs Act, 1962.

7. What is the SB in RBI EDPMS enquiry?

It is a separate tile in Public Enquiries 2.0 showing your Shipping Bill with the date it was transmitted to the Reserve Bank of India. Rectification of an incorrect EDPMS status requires login.

8. Do I need a separate lookup for old shipping bills or ICEGATE 1.5?

No. Historical shipping bills are searched through the same Public Enquiries 2.0 path, using the customs location code that was in force when the bill was filed.

9. Does an ICEGATE shipping bill status check cost anything?

No. Document enquiry is free for every user and no digital signature is needed for a guest check. Charges on the customs portal apply to duty and cess, not to enquiries.