Overview

The BIC Facility Code provides a unique, harmonized code to identify container facilities. Following a major harmonization project conducted in collaboration with the DCSA, the BIC Facility Code database now provides a unique identifier for over 11,000 facilities in 160 countries. The vast majority of facilities in the database now include ‘enhanced’ data with a formatted street address and GPS coordinates.

API to access all container facilities

The BIC Facility Code covers depots, container yards, M&R vendors or any other facility through which a container may pass except ocean terminals. Ocean terminal codes are managed by a separate organization, SMDG. Thanks to the close cooperation between BIC and SMDG, a single API now exists to allow access to all facility types – whether registered by BIC or SMDG. Details on how to access the two code types can be found in the API spec.

Background

The BIC Facility Code began life in the 1980s as the “LoCode” identifier under ISO 9897. Now a “child code” of the UN/Locode, the BIC Facility Code is used to identify container facilities such as depots, container yards, container freight stations, M&R vendors and other facilities in the container supply chain. The BIC Facility Code is complementary to the SMDG Ocean Terminal Code, which is also a child code of the UN/Locode. The BIC Facility Code covers container facility types other than ocean terminals.