Services — International freight & customs

International freight and customs.

Ocean, air and cross-border moves with the paperwork prepared, checked and tracked alongside the freight — so a container never sits waiting on a document.

What it is

Most delays happen on paper.

Containers rarely stop because a ship was late. They stop because a commercial invoice had the wrong value, a security filing went in after the cut-off, or nobody arranged the inland leg before free time ran out.

So we run the freight and the documents together. Booking, paperwork prepared and checked with your customs broker, and drayage arranged while the vessel is still at sea — so the container moves the day it is available instead of collecting demurrage on the terminal.

Best for

What's included

Everything that comes with an international move.

No tiers, no add-on packages. This is the service.

Booking and space

Ocean and air space booked with carriers and consolidators, with the real risk of a rolled booking explained before you commit to a sail date.

Documents checked first

Commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or air waybill and certificate of origin reviewed for the errors that hold entries up.

Filings on the clock

Security filings and entry paperwork tracked against their deadlines, with your licensed customs broker doing the filing and us chasing the data.

Bonds and classification

Help deciding between a single-entry and continuous bond, and getting classification settled with your broker before the goods ship.

Drayage before free time ends

The inland leg is booked while the vessel is en route, so the box leaves the terminal inside its free days rather than after them.

One coordinator across legs

The same person handles the ocean leg, the customs step and the final delivery. No handoff where the problem gets lost.

Modes

Routes, paperwork and how long they take.

Transit times are port to port or airport to airport and exclude clearance and the inland leg. Peak season, blank sailings and congestion move them — we quote against live schedules, not this table.

Mode What it needs Typical transit
Ocean FCL — Asia to US West CoastBooking, security filing before vessel loading, invoice, packing list, bond15–25 days
Ocean FCL — Asia to US East CoastSame documents; routing via Panama or Suez affects the schedule30–40 days
Ocean FCL — Europe to US East CoastSame documents, shorter lead time on booking12–20 days
Ocean LCLSame documents plus warehouse handling at both endsFCL + 7–14 days
Air freightAir waybill, invoice, packing list; clearance filed on arrival2–5 days
Cross-border truck — CanadaElectronic manifest before arrival, customs invoice, broker release1–5 days
Cross-border truck — MexicoMexican entry filed by your broker, transfer carrier at the crossing2–7 days
Questions

Before you ask.

If your question is not here, dispatch will answer it in a sentence rather than a brochure.

Do you file customs entries yourselves?

No, and neither should anyone who is not licensed. Entries are filed by a licensed customs broker. We work with yours, or introduce you to one, then prepare and check the documents they need and keep the filing on schedule. If a company offers to handle customs without naming a licensed broker, that is a reason to walk away.

How do I stop paying demurrage and detention?

Know your last free day before the vessel arrives, have the entry ready so the container is released the moment it is available, and book the drayage in advance rather than the morning it lands. Most of the charges we see were scheduling, not bad luck.

Do I need a customs bond?

Every formal entry into the US needs one. A single-entry bond covers one shipment; a continuous bond covers a year and usually works out cheaper once you are importing more than a few times. Your broker will price both against your volume.

Can you handle door to door, or only the ocean leg?

Either. We can collect from your supplier, move the international leg, coordinate clearance with your broker and deliver inland — or just take the legs you do not already have covered.

Other services

Also worth looking at.

Dedicated freight

Locked-in capacity on the lanes you run every week. Same carriers, same transit windows, and a rate you can budget a quarter around.

Amazon & e-commerce freight

FBA and 3PL deliveries that hit their appointment. We handle ISA booking, pallet specs and delivery windows so inventory never sits.

Expedited shipping

Team drivers and straight-through routing when a load cannot wait. Quoted in minutes, rolling the same day.

Get a rate

Send us the lane. We will send back a number.

Ten fields, no account, no obligation. Most quotes come back the same morning with transit time and equipment confirmed.

Prefer to talk it through?

Dispatch answers around the clock, including weekends and holidays.