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PIERS Alternative · US Import Data · Academic Research · Kirchner

The PIERS Alternative
Built for Researchers,
Not Shipping Departments.

Kirchner is the PIERS alternative designed for how academic economists actually work with US import data. PIERS (Port Import Export Reporting Service) is a logistics industry tool. Kirchner is a research platform. Same underlying CBP bill of lading source. Built for your methodology, not for cargo operations.

Trusted by Harvard, Cornell, Purdue 1.2M Bills of Lading monthly From $10,000/year
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Direct reply from the research team. No enterprise sales cycle.
The Core Difference
"PIERS was designed for ocean carriers and logistics companies. Kirchner was designed for the research questions we were actually trying to answer."
Trade Economics Researcher, US University
1827
Year the Journal of Commerce was founded. PIERS inherits that legacy. Kirchner was built for today's research.
You searched for a PIERS alternative or a substitute for Port Import Export Reporting Service data. You are in the right place.
Also see:   Panjiva Alternative  ·  Research Tools  ·  Data Shop
Why Researchers Search for a PIERS Substitute
PIERS was built for
cargo operations.
Your paper needs something else.

PIERS has been collecting bills of lading since the 1970s. For its original purpose, it is excellent: ocean carriers, freight forwarders, and 3PLs use it to benchmark trade lanes, track competitors, and generate sales leads. S&P Global's own product description names its primary users as "the top 20 ocean carriers, NVOCCs, 3PLs, and transportation, energy, chemical, agriculture and finance companies."

An academic researcher building a panel dataset on tariff impacts, supply chain resilience, or firm-level trade exposure is not in that list. The query interface, the data delivery format, and the support model are all designed for shipping operations teams, not for the analytical workflows that economics and trade policy research requires. That mismatch is why researchers look for a PIERS substitute.

Kirchner was built to close that gap: the same underlying CBP source data, designed from the ground up for how researchers actually use it.

Why PIERS Does Not Fit Academic Research Workflows

Four Reasons PIERS Is Not
the Right Tool for University Research

🚢

Designed for Shipping Industry, Not Research

PIERS primary customers are ocean carriers, freight forwarders, NVOCCs, and logistics companies. The product features, support documentation, and query interface reflect those users, not the analytical needs of trade economists or supply chain researchers building regression datasets.

🏢

S&P Global Enterprise Pricing and Process

PIERS is sold through S&P Global's enterprise sales process and the S&P Global Marketplace with no published pricing. Getting access means negotiating a contract with a major financial data corporation whose standard clients are Fortune 500 supply chain departments, not research grant budgets.

🔧

No Research-Grade Tooling

PIERS delivers data as a bulk feed or query interface for operations intelligence. There is no research playground, no panel dataset construction tool, no academic-oriented documentation. Researchers using PIERS face the same raw data as a shipping analyst, without the tools built for econometric analysis.

📊

PIERS and Panjiva Are Now Both S&P Global

PIERS came to S&P Global via the IHS Markit merger. Panjiva was acquired directly in 2018. Both products now sit under the same corporate umbrella, sold to the same enterprise client base at enterprise prices. A researcher choosing between them is choosing between two products from the same corporation.

Data Provider Profile
New York, USA · Founded mid-1970s · Now S&P Global via IHS Markit

PIERS

Port Import Export Reporting Service, S&P Global Market Intelligence

The honest starting point: PIERS is a serious and well-established data source. Bonfiglioli, Crinò and Gancia used PIERS data in their Journal of Monetary Economics paper on US import concentration, one of the most cited recent papers in international trade economics. Federal Reserve researchers note that PIERS is specifically useful to supplement Panjiva data, since shipment dollar values are largely missing from Panjiva's US bills of lading. If your institution has PIERS access and you need both historical depth and dollar value data, it has genuine research applications. This page is for researchers who cannot access PIERS, cannot afford it, or need tooling that goes beyond what a logistics data feed provides.

What PIERS Does Well

  • ★
    Historical depth: US trade data back to 1950 in paper form, 2003 for digital records. The longest historical window of any commercial BoL provider.
  • ★
    Dollar value data: PIERS includes enriched shipment value estimates, supplementing what is missing from Panjiva's raw US BoL records. Useful for research requiring value-based trade measures.
  • ★
    Volume and completeness: 16 million bills of lading processed in 2023, covering 100% of US port locations. Combined with data enrichment from Census, UN, and Dun and Bradstreet.
  • ★
    Academic citation precedent: Used in published research in top journals including the Journal of Monetary Economics.

Where PIERS Falls Short for Academic Researchers

  • Built for logistics, not research. PIERS primary design is for cargo operations intelligence: benchmarking trade lanes, generating sales leads, tracking competitor shipments. The tooling, documentation, and interface all serve this use case, not academic econometrics.
  • Enterprise pricing and no academic pathway. PIERS is sold via S&P Global's enterprise sales process. There is no academic pricing tier, no research discount programme, and no direct route that bypasses the corporate procurement cycle.
  • Same parent company as Panjiva. Choosing PIERS over Panjiva is still choosing an S&P Global product. Both carry the same enterprise pricing structure and corporate relationship dynamic.
  • No custom research tools. PIERS delivers data as a feed or query interface for operations. There is no equivalent to Kirchner's research playground for building custom analytical pipelines.
  • Support from a logistics data team. Questions about methodology for academic research, panel construction, or how to handle specific data anomalies are not what PIERS support was designed to answer.
Context worth knowing

PIERS originated at the Journal of Commerce in the 1970s, passed through IHS Markit, and became part of S&P Global when the S&P Global and IHS Markit merger completed in February 2022. Panjiva was acquired by S&P Global separately in 2018. Both PIERS and Panjiva are now products of the same Fortune 500 corporation, sold under the S&P Global Market Intelligence division. A university researcher choosing between them is navigating two products from the same parent, both priced for enterprise clients, neither designed specifically for academic workflows.

K
Why Researchers Switch from PIERS to Kirchner

Kirchner Was Built
Because No One Had Built
This Data for Research.

The available sources for US import bill of lading data all share the same background: they were built for industry. PIERS for logistics. Panjiva for supply chain intelligence. The Census LFTTD for government researchers with physical access to a secure facility.

Kirchner was the first to build specifically for academic research. The founder received a 160,000 euro EU government grant working with this data at Ulm University and built the pipeline, the tooling, and the pricing model that he needed when he was a researcher himself.

Talk to the Kirchner team
$10K
Starting annual price, vs PIERS enterprise pricing
1.2M
Bills of lading per month, 360+ US ocean ports
35
Fields per bill of lading record
1970s
When PIERS started. Kirchner built for today's research methods.
Trusted by researchers at leading institutions
Head-to-Head

PIERS vs Kirchner
Comparison for Academic Researchers

PIERS (S&P Global) Kirchner ★
Ownership S&P Global Market Intelligence (via IHS Markit merger, 2022). Same division as Panjiva. Independent. Founded by a researcher, EU government funded, Ulm University affiliated.
Built For Ocean carriers, logistics companies, NVOCCs, 3PLs, energy and chemical companies Economics professors, PhD students, university research teams Academic-First
Data Source CBP bills of lading, enriched with Census, UN, Dun and Bradstreet CBP bills of lading, aggregated monthly for research use Same Source
Shipment Value Data ✓ Enriched dollar value estimates, key advantage over Panjiva for research requiring values ◑ Weight and quantity fields. Contact Kirchner for value enrichment options.
Historical Coverage ✓ US data from 2003 digitally, paper records to 1950 ✓ US data from 2007 onwards
Academic Pricing ✗ Enterprise-only. No published pricing. S&P Global negotiated contract. ✓ From $10,000/year. Direct, transparent pricing for research projects. Accessible
Research Tools Bulk data feed and query interface designed for operations intelligence ✓ Custom research playground: build your own analysis tools and dashboards Unique
Access Route S&P Global Marketplace or direct enterprise contract. WRDS availability varies. ✓ Direct. No enterprise procurement cycle. No institutional subscription required. Simple
Support Logistics and trade intelligence support team ✓ Researchers who work with this data daily. Data methodology questions answered. Expert
Academic Citation ✓ Cited in Journal of Monetary Economics, supplementary source in Federal Reserve research ◑ Growing. Same underlying CBP source data as PIERS and Panjiva.
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PIERS vs Kirchner: Who Should Switch

Should Your Research Use PIERS or Kirchner?
The honest breakdown.

Stay with PIERS If...

  • →
    Your institution already has PIERS access at no additional cost to your research budget.
  • →
    You need shipment dollar values and PIERS's enriched value estimates are essential to your methodology.
  • →
    You need US trade data before 2007, where PIERS's historical depth (back to 2003 digitally) is essential.
  • →
    PIERS has already been cited in your target journal for similar research and citation consistency is a priority.

Switch to Kirchner If...

  • →
    You cannot access or afford PIERS through your institution and need a direct, affordable route to US import bill of lading data.
  • →
    You want a custom research interface to build your own analysis tools, not to query a logistics operations platform.
  • →
    You want support from researchers who understand academic data methodology, not from a logistics data vendor support team.
  • →
    You need to move quickly and cannot wait for an enterprise contract negotiation with a Fortune 500 corporation.
  • →
    Your research covers 2007 onwards and you do not need the pre-2007 historical window.

Looking for a PIERS Substitute That Fits Your Research?

Send us a message about your project. We reply directly with an honest assessment of whether Kirchner is the right PIERS alternative for your methodology and budget.

Request Kirchner Access
Why Kirchner Is the Strongest PIERS Alternative for Academic Research

What Kirchner Offers
That PIERS Was Never Designed to Provide

01

Built for Research, Not Cargo Operations

Every design decision in Kirchner reflects an academic use case. The data structure, the research playground, the support documentation, and the pricing model were all built for economists, not for freight analysts. PIERS was built in the 1970s for a shipping industry that needed trade intelligence. Kirchner was built for researchers who need econometric inputs.

02

Academic Pricing That Fits Research Budgets

Kirchner starts at $10,000 per year. PIERS requires negotiating an enterprise contract with S&P Global Market Intelligence at pricing designed for ocean carriers and energy companies. For a dissertation researcher or an early-career professor, that structural difference determines whether the data is accessible at all.

03

A Custom Research Playground

Kirchner offers a tool where researchers can build their own analysis dashboards and pipelines. Not a fixed interface designed for trade lane benchmarking. A research-specific environment where your questions about tariff impacts, supply chain resilience, or firm-level trade exposure can be turned into reproducible analytical tools.

04

Founded by a Researcher, Supported by Researchers

The Kirchner founder received EU government funding working with this data at Ulm University. The team uses this data for research themselves. When you have a question about how a variable was collected, how to handle manifest amendments in a panel, or how other researchers have addressed a data limitation, you are talking to people who have solved the same problems.

05

Direct Access, No Corporate Procurement

Getting PIERS means negotiating with a Fortune 500 enterprise. Getting Kirchner is a direct conversation with the team. If your paper has a deadline in three months, the difference between a six-week contract negotiation and a direct research conversation matters significantly.

How to Switch from PIERS to Kirchner

Three Steps to Kirchner Access
as Your PIERS Replacement

01

Describe Your Research

Tell us what you are studying, what time periods you need, which variables matter for your methodology, and your budget situation. We will tell you exactly what Kirchner delivers and where its limits are versus PIERS.

02

Receive a Clear Proposal

We send you a direct proposal: data scope, format, research tools, price. No enterprise negotiation, no six-week procurement cycle. A straightforward agreement built around your project timeline.

03

Start Your Analysis

Access the data, the research playground, and the team. Build the analytical tools your methodology requires and run your research. We stay available throughout, because our reputation grows with yours.

The Best PIERS Alternative for Academic Research

PIERS, the Port Import Export Reporting Service, is one of the oldest trade data services in existence. It originated from the Journal of Commerce in the 1970s, passed through IHS Markit, and became an S&P Global product when the two companies merged in 2022. Academics have used PIERS data in serious research: Bonfiglioli, Crinò and Gancia cited it in their Journal of Monetary Economics study on concentration in international markets, and Federal Reserve researchers note that PIERS is specifically useful to supplement Panjiva data when shipment dollar values are needed. Its historical depth and value enrichment are genuine strengths.

The problem is not data quality. The problem is fit. PIERS was designed for, and is marketed to, the maritime and logistics industry. S&P Global's own product description names its core customers as ocean carriers, NVOCCs, 3PLs, and companies in transportation, energy, chemicals, and agriculture. An academic researcher is not in that customer profile, and the pricing, tooling, and support model reflect that reality. For most university research projects, the path to PIERS either runs through a corporate procurement cycle that outlasts your project timeline or it simply does not exist.

Kirchner is the PIERS alternative built for this gap. Same underlying CBP source data. Research-grade tooling. Academic pricing. Supported by a team that works with this data for research, not for cargo operations.

PIERS vs Kirchner: What Matters for Your Methodology

The substantive difference between PIERS and Kirchner for most academic research on US imports is smaller than it might appear. Both draw from US Customs and Border Protection bills of lading. Both cover US ocean import records. The key methodological differences are worth understanding precisely.

Where PIERS has an advantage: shipment dollar values and historical depth. PIERS enriches its records with estimated shipment values using additional data sources including the US Census and Dun and Bradstreet, filling a gap that Panjiva's US data leaves open. PIERS also has US digital records from 2003 and paper records going back to 1950. For research requiring value-based trade measures or pre-2007 data, these are genuine reasons to prioritise PIERS access if it is available.

Where Kirchner has an advantage: everything else relevant to how academic research is done. Research-oriented tooling, a custom playground for building analytical pipelines, pricing that fits a research budget, direct access without corporate procurement, and support from people who understand research methodology rather than logistics operations.

For most researchers working on post-2007 US import dynamics, tariff analyses, supply chain resilience, or firm-level trade exposure, the underlying dataset difference is minimal. The difference in how the data is delivered, how you can work with it, and what it costs to access it is what determines which platform actually gets used.

  • PIERS: dollar value enrichment, historical depth to 2003, S&P Global enterprise, logistics industry tooling
  • Kirchner: research-grade platform, custom tools, academic pricing, founded by researchers for researchers
  • Both use the same CBP bill of lading source data for US imports
  • If your institution has PIERS already: use it, especially if dollar values or pre-2007 data are needed
  • If PIERS is inaccessible or out of budget for post-2007 research: Kirchner is the right conversation

A note on the PIERS and Panjiva relationship: Both are now S&P Global products. Federal Reserve researchers note that some papers use both together, with PIERS supplementing Panjiva specifically to fill in dollar values missing from US BoL data. Kirchner provides a single-source alternative without requiring access to either S&P Global product.

Why Researchers Use Kirchner Instead of PIERS

What Researchers Say About
Switching to Kirchner Data

"
"We needed a bill of lading data source we could actually get. The PIERS procurement process through S&P Global was not going to fit our project timeline. Kirchner had the data we needed, we got access quickly, and the team understood what we were trying to do analytically."
Supply Chain Economics Researcher
US Research University
"
"The research playground is what made the difference. PIERS gives you data as a bulk feed. Kirchner gave us a way to build the specific analytical tools our tariff impact study required without having to preprocess everything from scratch."
Trade Policy Researcher
Graduate Economics Programme
"
"Kirchner gave us exactly the US import data we needed. The pricing was realistic for our grant budget and the team knew the data better than any vendor support I have dealt with. They had clearly worked with it themselves."
Economics Professor
US Research University
PIERS vs Kirchner: What Is at Stake

Two Ways to Work
With US Import Data.

⚠️

Relying on a Logistics Platform

  • You spend months in enterprise procurement trying to get PIERS access through a corporate sales process designed for shipping companies
  • Your analytical workflow is constrained by a query interface designed for trade lane benchmarking, not for regression datasets
  • Support questions about data methodology go to a logistics data team with no background in academic research applications
  • You are paying enterprise prices designed for ocean carriers and energy companies, not for research grant budgets
  • Both major options (PIERS and Panjiva) are products of the same Fortune 500 corporation
🎓

With a Research-Grade Platform

  • Direct access to US import bill of lading data at a price that fits your research budget, without a corporate procurement cycle
  • A custom research playground where you build the exact analytical tools your methodology requires
  • Support from researchers who have worked with this data themselves and understand the methodological questions that arise
  • An independent data provider whose incentives are aligned with your research success, not with a corporate earnings report
  • The same underlying CBP source data as PIERS and Panjiva, delivered in a format built for research, not for cargo operations
PIERS Alternative: Frequently Asked Questions

PIERS vs Kirchner FAQ
Questions Researchers Ask About Switching

What is the best PIERS alternative for academic research?+

Kirchner is the strongest PIERS alternative for university researchers focused on US import data. Unlike PIERS, which was designed for the maritime and logistics industry, Kirchner was built specifically for academic research by a researcher with EU government funding at Ulm University. It offers complete US import bill of lading records, a custom research playground, academic pricing from $10,000 per year, and support from researchers who understand academic data methodology. Trusted by researchers at Harvard, Cornell, Purdue, and HKUST.

What is PIERS (Port Import Export Reporting Service)?+

PIERS stands for Port Import Export Reporting Service. It is one of the oldest commercial trade data services, originating from the Journal of Commerce in the mid-1970s. It gathers bills of lading for all waterborne cargo entering and exiting US ports, processes approximately 16 million bills of lading per year, and enriches the data with estimates from the US Census, United Nations, and Dun and Bradstreet. PIERS came to S&P Global via the IHS Markit merger in 2022 and is now a product of S&P Global Market Intelligence, the same division that owns Panjiva.

Is Kirchner data the same as PIERS data for US imports?+

Both Kirchner and PIERS source US import data from US Customs and Border Protection bills of lading. The underlying public records are the same. PIERS adds enriched value estimates and has historical US records from 2003. Kirchner provides approximately 1.2 million monthly import bills with 35 fields per record, covering all 360-plus US ocean ports from 2007 onwards. For post-2007 research where dollar value estimates are not the primary variable, the substantive dataset difference is minimal.

How is PIERS different from Panjiva, and does Kirchner replace both?+

Both PIERS and Panjiva are now S&P Global products. PIERS is the older raw data feed, designed for logistics operations, enriched with dollar values from supplementary sources. Panjiva is a more recent ML-enriched intelligence platform with entity resolution and firm tracking. Federal Reserve researchers note that PIERS is specifically used to supplement Panjiva because US dollar values are largely missing from Panjiva's BoL data. Kirchner replaces both as a single research-grade US import data source for projects where historical depth before 2007 and value enrichment are not critical requirements.

Who owns PIERS data now?+

PIERS is currently a product of S&P Global Market Intelligence, the same division that owns Panjiva. PIERS originally came from the Journal of Commerce, passed through IHS Markit, and became part of S&P Global when the two companies completed their merger in February 2022. S&P Global Inc. (NYSE: SPGI) is a Fortune 500 financial data corporation. Both major commercial sources of US import bill of lading data for researchers (PIERS and Panjiva) are now under the same corporate parent.

Has PIERS been cited in academic papers?+

Yes. Bonfiglioli, Crinò and Gancia used PIERS data in their 2021 Journal of Monetary Economics paper on concentration in international markets, one of the most cited recent papers in international trade economics. Federal Reserve economists also note that researchers use PIERS to supplement Panjiva data, specifically to obtain shipment dollar value estimates that are largely missing from Panjiva's US bill of lading records. Kirchner uses the same underlying CBP bill of lading source as PIERS.

What is a substitute for PIERS data in economics research?+

The main substitutes for PIERS data in academic economics research are: Kirchner (research-grade, academic pricing, same CBP source, post-2007 US imports), Panjiva (also S&P Global, enterprise pricing, broader country coverage, ML-enriched but lacking US dollar values), and the Census Bureau LFTTD (free but restricted to Federal Statistical Research Data Centers requiring in-person access). For most post-2007 US import research where dollar value enrichment is not required, Kirchner is the most accessible substitute for PIERS.

Get Access: The PIERS Alternative Built for Academic Research

Tell the Kirchner Team
About Your Research Project

What Happens Next

  • 1
    We read your message personally, typically within 24 hours. No sales automation.
  • 2
    We give you an honest assessment, including cases where PIERS or Panjiva is the better fit for your specific methodology.
  • 3
    If we are a match, you get a clear proposal: data scope, research tools, price. No enterprise negotiation needed.

Kirchner
Ulm University affiliated research team
Germany

www.kirchnerdata.com

Direct reply from the research team, not an automated system.
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