Advance customs declaration in the DR: what it is and why it saves you storage days

What changes versus the traditional declaration

Under the traditional scheme, the declaration is filed after arrival, within the legal deadline counted from the reception of the vessel. Every day between arrival and release is a day of terminal storage and, often, container demurrage owed to the carrier.

With an advance declaration, the document review happens while the vessel is at sea. The DGA risk engine assigns the channel (green, yellow or red) beforehand, and the importer knows before arrival whether the cargo will be inspected.

What you need ready

The cost of declaring late

The law treats a late declaration as a customs offence. The surcharge is 5 % of duties for the first week or fraction, and 3 % for each additional week. Add terminal storage and container demurrage. On a 40-foot container with US$ 12,000 in duties, one week of delay can cost between US$ 1,200 and US$ 2,000 in surcharges, storage and demurrage.

If for some reason you cannot declare on time, the law allows an extension request through SIGA before the deadline, but the request does not pause the clock: if rejected, you must declare the next business day.

How we do it at Romero shipp·log

Our forwarding team shares the draft BL and invoice with VMR, our customs agency, at booking. VMR classifies, values and simulates duties before the cargo sails. When the vessel leaves origin, the advance declaration is already being prepared, and it is transmitted to the manifest as soon as the carrier publishes it.

In practice: most of our green-channel containers are released the same day or the day after arrival.

Send us your documents when you confirm the purchase, not when the vessel arrives. That is when the advance declaration saves money.