Event Subscriptions
Event Subscriptions is a webhook interface, meaning Home Affairs sends data and your software receives it. It is for receiving air and sea cargo status events from the Integrated Cargo System (ICS) as they happen.
Use Event Subscriptions when an organisation’s software needs to react to cargo status changes automatically. To look up status on demand, use the
Cargo Status Application Programming Interface (API).
Use cases
- Operations dashboards showing cargo status changes in real time.
- Customer notifications triggered by cargo events.
- Automated workflows triggered by status changes, such as releasing a shipment for next-step processing once it clears customs.
Software requirements
To integrate, your software needs to host an HTTPS endpoint that accepts POST requests carrying cargo status events in JSON. You configure the authentication method that Home Affairs will use to call your endpoint. This can be an API key or OAuth 2.0.
Compatibility with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Event Subscriptions is complementary to your existing Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) feeds. Adding the webhook channel will not affect your existing EDI feed. Both can be run in parallel.
Start using Event Subscriptions
- View the
Cargo Status Webhook (OpenAPI 3.1). This has information on the full event payload schema in an interactive viewer.
- View the
Event Subscriptions Developers Guide. This contains endpoint requirements, authentication, idempotency, and the go-live checklist.
- Build your webhook endpoint and create a subscription via the
ABF Trade Portal.
Support
You can email
tradeapi@abf.gov.au for help with:
- integrating your endpoint
- setting up subscriptions
- delivery issues in production.
