Starting and ending transit movements in Northern Ireland

Last updated 23 January 2023

You must tell Border Force in advance if your goods are:

• starting their transit movement from an office of departure in Northern Ireland
• ending their transit movement at an office of destination in Northern Ireland

You do not need to follow this process if your goods are:

• starting their movement from the premises of an authorised consignor
• ending their movement at the premises of an authorised consignee

Starting a transit movement at an office of departure

You must provide Border Force with notification of planned departures before you arrive at the office of departure by emailing: BFPortteam@homeoffice.gov.uk.

You will need to include:

• your name
• your Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number
• your local reference number (LRN) and either your:
  • movement reference number (MRN)
  • export reference number (ERN) from your export documentation (if applicable)
• method of transport
• the name of the port you will be departing from
• the location where your goods will be held in Northern Ireland until the transit movement has been started
• date and time of intended departure from Northern Ireland

You do not need to follow this process if you start your movements from the premises of an authorised consignor.

Ending a transit movement

You must provide Border Force with notification of planned arrivals before you arrive at the office of destination by emailing: BFPortteam@homeoffice.gov.uk..

You will need to include:

• your name
• your Movement Reference Number (MRN)
• the method of transport
• the name of the port you will be arriving into
• the location where your goods will be held on arrival in Northern Ireland
• the estimated arrival date and time of arrival of your goods at your stated location

You’ll also need to attach:

• your TAD (or C88 document)
• a confirmation of entry of the movement into another customs procedure, such as:
  • an entry into the Customs Declaration Service
  • import declaration
  • movement into temporary storage
  • T2L documents

Using the Trader Support Service

If you’re moving goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, you can check if the Trader Support Service can help you with the movement of your goods.

Get more information

Find guidance on planning your route before moving goods using transit.

You can read Community, Common Transit and TIR: newsletters for updates and changes to NCTS.

If you use in-house software you should contact the Software Developer Support Team at SDSTeam@hmrc.gov.uk.

The transit manual and transit manual supplement contain more information on TIR, common and Union transit.