ACE — Automated Commercial Environment
ACE is the United States Customs and Border Protection system that carriers file an electronic truck manifest into before a shipment crosses into the US, listing the truck, driver, trailer, shipments and their entry references.
In plain terms.
ACE is the filing the carrier is responsible for, as distinct from the entry the broker files. It describes the conveyance — which tractor, which trailer, which driver, which shipments are aboard — and it has to be transmitted and accepted before the truck reaches the border, with a required lead time.
The two filings are easy to confuse because both are called the manifest in conversation. The practical split: the broker handles the commercial entry for the goods, the carrier handles ACE for the truck carrying them. If the ACE manifest is wrong or late, it does not matter how clean the entry is — the truck is the problem.
Who deals with it
The carrier files it, usually the dispatcher, and it is the carrier's legal responsibility rather than the broker's.
When it shows up
Before arrival, with a mandatory lead time. Late is treated as not filed.
What goes wrong
A plate number that does not match the trailer actually hooked, a driver swapped after filing, or a shipment added at the last minute without amending. Each can draw a penalty as well as a delay.
How Lanexa handles it.
This lives in eManifest, where 29 capabilities are live.