Your container landed. Now what?

Last updated: July 16, 2026 · Written by the GET Express freight desk

Clearing customs is not the finish line. The domestic leg, moving your freight from the port or bonded warehouse to its final destination, is a separate shipment with its own decisions, deadlines, and costs. Plan it before the container lands, not after, and you skip the detention charges, missed appointments, and rushed quotes that eat into the savings you just made getting the goods across the ocean.

Right after customs clearance: drayage and devanning

Your freight doesn't move straight to its final stop just because the container cleared customs. It first travels a short distance, usually from the port, rail ramp, or terminal to a nearby warehouse. That short-haul move is called drayage. A trucker who specializes in hauling containers runs this leg, not a standard freight carrier.

At the warehouse, the container gets devanned: unloaded and broken down from container quantities into individual pallets or cases sized for truck freight. This is also when damage, shortages, or overages usually get caught, before the freight moves again. Only after devanning is your shipment ready to book as LTL (less-than-truckload) or FTL (full truckload) freight for the next leg.

If a customs broker or 3PL is handling your import, drayage and devanning are usually already arranged for you. Everything after that, the actual domestic leg, is the part worth planning in advance.

The decisions that shape your domestic leg

Once your freight is devanned and ready to move, you're making the same mode and routing calls as any shipper, just against a tighter clock: the longer freight sits, the more exposure to detention and demurrage charges.

LTL or FTL. If your container's contents are splitting into a handful of pallets going to one place, LTL usually makes sense: you only pay for the trailer space you use. If the whole container is moving to a single destination as a near-full load, FTL skips the extra handling that comes with LTL's shared trailers and is often faster.

Appointment scheduling. Distribution centers, retail stores, and most 3PLs don't take freight on a walk-in basis. They assign a delivery window, and missing it can mean a rejected load or a rescheduled delivery. Get the appointment locked in before the truck leaves the warehouse.

Routing guide compliance. If the destination is a retail DC, the retailer usually has its own routing guide: its rules for which carrier to use, how the freight has to be labeled, and how far in advance to schedule. Ignoring it is one of the more common ways an on-time shipment turns into a chargeback.

The three most expensive mistakes at this stage

Quoting before freight class is confirmed. Freight class is the number LTL carriers use to price a shipment, based on the density, packaging, and handling of what's actually inside the container. Ask for a domestic-leg quote before the class is confirmed, and you're almost guaranteed a reclassification and a corrected invoice after pickup.

Missing the appointment window. If the domestic-leg carrier misses its scheduled appointment, or shows up without one, the freight has to wait for the next available slot, which can rack up detention or demurrage fees.

Not planning FBA or 3PL requirements in advance. Amazon FBA and most 3PLs enforce their own labeling and appointment rules, often stricter than a standard retail DC's. You don't want to find that out after the freight is already devanned and sitting on a truck.

Before you request a quote, have this ready

• Container or bill of lading (BOL) reference number, so the quote ties back to the actual shipment.
• Destination type: distribution center, retail store, 3PL, or Amazon FBA, since each carries different appointment and compliance rules.
• Ready date: when the freight will actually be devanned and available to load, not the date the container is scheduled to arrive at port.
• Weight and dimensions for each pallet, or a solid estimate, so freight class can be confirmed before the truck is booked.
• Any appointment requirements or routing guide the destination has already sent you.

Get these five lined up before you request the quote, and the domestic leg stops being the part that blows the schedule. GET Express runs the importer's domestic leg as its own service line.