THE INTERNATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CODES OF CONTAINER OWNERS

1- PRESENTATION OF THE BIC CODES*

*updated 2002 version: the additions or modifications are shown in italics in the text hereafter

THE INTERNATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CODES OF CONTAINER OWNERS

CALLED "BIC Codes" or "ISO Alpha-codes"

The international identification code of containers proposed by the Bureau International des Containers

(B.I.C) since 1969 has been standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in

1972. It forms an essential part of the ISO 6346 standard : « Freight Containers - Coding, Identification

and Marking ». (Such standard describes otherwise some technical complementary markings such as

size and type code, country code and various operational marks).

Only ISO Alpha-codes for identification of container owners registered with B.I..C. may be used as unique

identity marking of containers in all international transport and customs declaration documents.

It comprises :

Ø an owner/operator code of 4 letters, the last one being « U » for all freight containers (1)

Ø a serial number of 6 Arabic numerals (2),

Ø a seventh digit (check digit) providing a means of validating the recording and/or transmission accuracy

of the data.

Example (theoretical): BICU 123456 5

It guarantees that the identification of the container is unique.

It permits :

Ø the identification of the owner or principal operator,

Ø the identification of the unit by its owner or operator as reference number for its data base (dimensions,

type, year of putting into operation, date of control, of maintenance, etc..).

It facilitates :

Ø the international circulation and temporary admission for customs purpose,

Ø the control of containers, manually or automatically by computerised and/or remote control systems at

any stage of the transportation chain and especially in intermodal transport.

It is accepted by :

Ø the World Customs Organization and a number of Customs Administrations of which it facilitates the

task in relation with the Customs Convention on Containers, the TIR convention, etc..,

Ø the International Air Transport Association (IATA),

Ø The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS),

Ø the International Federation of International Removers (FIDI),

Ø The International Union of Railways (UIC),

Ø the International Road Transport Union (IRU)

It is used :

in 110 countries by about 1200 owners or operators representing more than 90 % of the world container

fleet.

It is displayed worldwide

Ø a paper copy of the BIC-CODE Register is published yearly

Ø the complete list of the BIC codes is displayed and monthly updated on the Internet web site : www.biccode.

org

Notes: (1) it still exists « J » for detachable freight container-related equipment

and « Z » for container-related trailers and chassis

(2) Please kindly note that B.I.C. does not register the 6 serial numbers, which are left to the owner/operator’s choice

(as long as it ensures that each number is allocated only once)

credit : www.bic-code.org