Flexport data handling

Flexport Data Handling

Overview

Flexport logistics data encompasses shipment records, bills of lading, customs declarations, commercial invoices, tracking events, and trade compliance documents. This data crosses international borders and regulatory jurisdictions, requiring strict handling for PII (shipper/consignee contacts), controlled export data (HS codes, ITAR items), and financial records (invoices, duty payments). All integrations must enforce GDPR/CCPA compliance, customs data retention mandates, and C-TPAT supply chain security standards.

Data Classification

Data Type	Sensitivity	Retention	Encryption
Shipment records	Medium	1 year post-delivery	AES-256 at rest
Customs declarations	High (trade compliance)	5 years (CBP requirement)	AES-256 + TLS
Commercial invoices	High (financial)	7 years (tax/audit)	AES-256 at rest
Contact PII (shipper/consignee)	High	Until deletion request	Field-level encryption
Tracking events	Low	90 days	TLS in transit

Data Import

interface FlexportShipment {
  id: string; ref: string; status: string;
  shipper: { name: string; email: string; address: string };
  consignee: { name: string; email: string; address: string };
  hsCode: string; incoterm: string; cargoReadyDate: string;
}

async function importShipments(cursor?: string): Promise<FlexportShipment[]> {
  const allShipments: FlexportShipment[] = [];
  let nextCursor = cursor;
  do {
    const res = await fetch(`https://api.flexport.com/v2/shipments?page[after]=${nextCursor || ''}`, {
      headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FLEXPORT_API_TOKEN}` },
    });
    const data = await res.json();
    for (const s of data.data) {
      if (!s.id || !s.attributes.ref) throw new Error(`Invalid shipment: missing required fields`);
      allShipments.push(s.attributes);
    }
    nextCursor = data.links?.next ? new URL(data.links.next).searchParams.get('page[after]') : null;
  } while (nextCursor);
  return allShipments;
}

Data Export

async function exportShipmentsCSV(shipments: FlexportShipment[], dest: string) {
  const REDACT_FIELDS = ['email', 'phone', 'street_address', 'tax_id'];
  const sanitized = shipments.map(s => {
    const copy = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(s));
    for (const field of REDACT_FIELDS) {
      if (copy.shipper?.[field]) copy.shipper[field] = '[REDACTED]';
      if (copy.consignee?.[field]) copy.consignee[field] = '[REDACTED]';
    }
    return copy;
  });
  // Validate no restricted HS codes in export payload
  const restricted = sanitized.filter(s => s.hsCode?.startsWith('9A'));
  if (restricted.length > 0) throw new Error(`Export blocked: ${restricted.length} ITAR-restricted items`);
  const csv = [Object.keys(sanitized[0]).join(','), ...sanitized.map(r => Object.values(r).join(','))].join('\n');
  await writeFile(dest, csv, 'utf-8');
}

Data Validation

function validateShipment(s: FlexportShipment): string[] {
  const errors: string[] = [];
  if (!s.id) errors.push('Missing shipment ID');
  if (!s.ref || s.ref.length > 50) errors.push('Invalid shipment reference');
  if (!s.hsCode || !/^\d{4,10}$/.test(s.hsCode)) errors.push(`Invalid HS code: ${s.hsCode}`);
  if (!['EXW','FOB','CIF','DDP','DAP'].includes(s.incoterm)) errors.push(`Unknown incoterm: ${s.incoterm}`);
  if (!s.shipper?.name || !s.consignee?.name) errors.push('Missing shipper or consignee name');
  if (s.cargoReadyDate && isNaN(Date.parse(s.cargoReadyDate))) errors.push('Invalid cargo ready date');
  return errors;
}

Compliance

• PII fields (shipper/consignee contacts) encrypted at field level, redacted in logs
• Customs declarations retained 5 years per CBP/EU customs code requirements
• Commercial invoices retained 7 years for tax audit compliance
• GDPR right-to-erasure: redact PII but preserve shipment skeleton for business continuity
• CCPA opt-out signals honored for California-origin shipments
• ITAR/EAR restricted HS codes flagged and blocked from unauthorized export
• C-TPAT supply chain security: validate trading partner identities before data sharing
• Audit trail for all data access, export, and deletion operations

Error Handling

Issue	Cause	Fix
API 429 rate limit	Too many shipment fetches	Implement exponential backoff with jitter
Invalid HS code rejected	Incorrect tariff classification	Validate against WCO HS nomenclature before submission
GDPR deletion timeout	Large contact footprint across shipments	Batch updates in transactions of 100 records
Customs data missing	Incomplete booking submission	Require mandatory fields at import validation step
Export blocked by ITAR flag	Restricted HS code in payload	Route to trade compliance officer for manual review

Resources

• Flexport API Reference
• CBP Data Retention Requirements

Next Steps

See flexport-security-basics.