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FousNational Maritime Single Window

Turn the National Maritime Single Window into an API

Read your voyage reports and each person's permission to travel result from the NMSW with one API call, or submit a report from your FAL forms. A workflow can check the results before each departure and email you who needs a manual document check.

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Works with your own National Maritime Single Window account. Fous is an independent product.

What you can build on NMSW

  • List your voyage reports

    Build this

    Reads Your voyages, the voyage plans page, and returns each voyage report you have started, as a draft or submitted, with its ship and status.

    Takes
    Status (optional), from date (optional)
    Returns
    Ship name, arrival or departure, UK port, date, report status, crew count, passenger count

  • Get permission to travel results

    Build this

    Opens one submitted voyage report and reads the digital permission to travel check result for every crew member and passenger on it.

    Takes
    Ship name, voyage date
    Returns
    Full name, nationality, travel document number, crew or passenger, check result

  • Check which forms a voyage report has

    Build this

    Opens one voyage report and reads which of the General Declaration (FAL 1), Crew details (FAL 5) and Passenger details (FAL 6) are added, and its supporting documents.

    Takes
    Ship name, voyage date
    Returns
    Report status, FAL 1 added, FAL 5 added, FAL 6 added, supporting documents

  • Submit a voyage report

    Build this

    Starts a voyage report for an arrival in or departure from the UK, uploads the FAL 1, FAL 5 and FAL 6 spreadsheets and any supporting documents, and submits it.

    Takes
    Arrival or departure, FAL 1 file, FAL 5 file, FAL 6 file, supporting documents (optional)
    Returns
    Ship name, arrival or departure, UK port, date, report status

Automate NMSW with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

  • Permission to travel results for a sailing, before boarding

    Build this
    Starts
    When your system calls the workflow's webhook with a ship name and voyage date
    Step 1
    Get the permission to travel results for that voyage report.
    Step 2
    Keep the people with No record of valid permission to travel.
    Step 3
    Email you each person's full name, nationality, travel document number and whether they are crew or a passenger.

  • Voyage reports still in draft, every morning

    Build this
    Starts
    Every day at 7:00, Europe/London
    Step 1
    List your voyage reports on Your voyages.
    Step 2
    Keep the drafts with an arrival or departure in the next two days.
    Step 3
    Email you each one with its ship, port, date and whether it is an arrival or a departure.

  • Weekly log of submitted voyage reports

    Build this
    Starts
    Every Monday at 8:00, Europe/London
    Step 1
    List the voyage reports submitted with dates in the last seven days.
    Step 2
    Keep the reports not there on the last run.
    Step 3
    Post ship, arrival or departure, port, date and crew and passenger counts to your operations system's webhook.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “List your voyage reports” would look like.

Example request
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "nmsw.homeoffice.gov.uk/list_voyage_reports",
    "input": {
      "from_date": "2026-11-10"
    }
  }'
Example response
{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "voyages": [
      {
        "ship_name": "Northwind Trader",
        "direction": "Arrival",
        "uk_port": "Felixstowe",
        "date": "2026-11-14",
        "status": "Submitted",
        "crew_count": 21,
        "passenger_count": 0
      }
    ],
    "count": 1
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

NMSW’s own options

The Home Office documents no API for ship agents and operators on the NMSW. You report each UK arrival and departure on the site, built from the FAL 1, FAL 5 and FAL 6 spreadsheet templates it provides. If you cannot sign in, you can email the completed forms to the Border Force team for the region instead.

OptionWhat it coversWhat it takes
FAL form templatesGeneral Declaration (FAL 1), Crew details (FAL 5) and Passenger details including supernumeraries (FAL 6), as xlsx spreadsheets.A download from the NMSW start page.
FAL forms by emailThe same three forms, for when you cannot sign in to the NMSW service.Sent to the Border Force team that covers the region where your vessel will arrive or depart.
The NMSW by handVoyage reports on Your voyages, form and supporting document uploads, drafts, and a permission to travel result for each person submitted.An account with your email address and a password.

Read on November 12, 2026: National Maritime Single Window start page, Help and support for the National Maritime Single Window.

Signing in to NMSW

The NMSW signs you in with your email address and a password. You create the account with your email address and confirm it from an email the service sends. With Fous you sign in once through the NMSW's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256, and when a session expires it is signed back in.

Worth knowing

API here means passenger information
On the NMSW, API stands for advance passenger information, the data that runs the UK's Authority to Carry Scheme 2023. It is not a developer interface.
A result for every person you submit
Each person gets Valid permission to travel, Authority to carry granted or No record of valid permission to travel. With no record, check a physical permission or exemption, a UKVI share code or an ETA before boarding.
One report in place of the HMRC ships report
Voyages reported on the NMSW do not need to be reported to the HMRC National Clearance Hub Ships Reports Team. FAL forms sent to other UK authorities, such as CERS, need not be submitted.
Every arrival and every departure
The service is for General Maritime commercial shipping on uncanalised international voyages, and it asks for a report each time a vessel arrives in or departs from the UK. A partly completed report can be saved.

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Frequently asked questions

Not one for ship agents and operators: the Home Office documents none. You report on the site using its FAL 1, FAL 5 and FAL 6 spreadsheet templates, or email the forms to the regional Border Force team when you cannot sign in. The API the NMSW mentions is advance passenger information.

Valid permission to travel means the check found a digital permission to travel for the person. Authority to carry granted is the result for British and Irish nationals. No record of valid permission to travel means you check a physical permission or exemption, a UKVI share code or an ETA before boarding.

No. The NMSW says voyages reported on it do not need to be reported to the HMRC National Clearance Hub Ships Reports Team, and FAL forms sent to other UK authorities, such as CERS, need not be submitted.

Email the forms. Fill in the General Declaration (FAL 1), Crew details (FAL 5) and Passenger details (FAL 6) templates and send them to the Border Force team for the region where your vessel will arrive or depart. Support is at the NMSW support address on the help page.

No. Fous is an independent product. You use it with your own NMSW account, and a method reads and does only what that account can.

Put National Maritime Single Window behind an API call

Describe one job in Studio and see the method it builds, with 100 credits a month and no credit card, or book a demo and bring the sites your team signs in to.

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Fous is an independent product: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the operator of National Maritime Single Window (UK Home Office (Border Force)). The name is used only to say which system this page is about. Something here wrong or out of date? Write to legal@fous.com.