A system for transferring data includes an egress node including an egress port, and an ingress node configured to receive a data segment of a data packet destined for the egress port. The data packet is associated with a packet priority level. The ingress node is configured to receive an egress statement vector from the egress node indicating whether the egress port is or is not flow controlled for data associated with the packet priority level. The ingress node is configured to determine whether the egress port is available to receive the data segment from the ingress node before other data segments of the data packet are received at the ingress node based on the egress statement vector.