Domestic freight for importers: the desk after customs
Domestic freight for importers is the last stretch: shipping after customs clearance, from the port warehouse to the door that ordered the goods, where cost and delay pile up. We own that leg.
Now what?
Customs clears, the container gets pulled to a warehouse and unloaded, and suddenly your freight is twelve pallets on a dock with three destinations and a retailer’s routing guide to obey.
That is the domestic leg, and it is usually nobody’s job. The forwarder is done once the container is empty. The warehouse just wants it off the floor. We take it from that dock: LTL for the split shipments, truckload for the big ones, appointments booked, paperwork right, one person answering for all of it.
Read the checklist: what to have ready before you request a quote.
Container clears: port to warehouse freight
Your forwarder or drayage carrier pulls it from the port to a warehouse and unloads it. Our leg starts after that, so tell us the date.
Freight on pallets
Devanned, counted, palletized. This is where our desk starts: pallet counts, weights, class, and the delivery plan.
Delivered, to spec
DC, store, 3PL, or Amazon, each on its own appointment and routing rules, with updates pushed to you until the POD is in hand.
Domestic freight for importers: everything after the devan
- Warehouse-to-DC and store deliveries
- Split shipments from one container
- 3PL restocks and Amazon FBA
- Full truckloads when the whole box goes one place
- Delivery appointments and receiving windows
- Retailer routing-guide compliance
- Freight class confirmed before pickup
- Bills of lading, tracking, and claims
- The devan warehouse and the date
- Pallet count and weights after devan
- Each delivery address and its rules
- Or just the manifest, and we work from that
Two guides on shipping after customs clearance
What to do after your container clears customs
The decisions that shape the domestic leg, the three most expensive mistakes at this stage, and what to have ready before you request a quote.
What is drayage?
What drayage is, who handles it, why it is priced differently, and how it hands off to the leg we run.
Quick answers
Can you run the domestic leg after my container clears?
Yes. Once your ocean or air freight clears customs, we move the domestic leg from the port or bonded warehouse to its final stop, including deconsolidation delivery to distribution centers, retail, and 3PLs, with appointment scheduling so the freight doesn’t sit.
Do you arrange the drayage too?
Our desk starts once the container is drayed and unloaded. Your forwarder or drayage carrier pulls the container from the port to the warehouse; we take the freight from that warehouse to its final destination as LTL or truckload. Tell us the warehouse and the devan date and we line up the next leg so nothing sits.
What do you need from me to quote the domestic leg?
The warehouse where the container is devanned, the delivery address or addresses, the pallet count and weights after devan, the commodity, when the freight is ready, and any delivery rules such as appointments or a retailer routing guide. If you only have the container manifest, send that and we work from it.
Container clearing soon?
Domestic freight for importers starts with three facts: the devan warehouse, the pallet count, and the destinations. Port to warehouse freight is your drayage carrier’s leg. Ours starts once the container is unloaded: send those three facts and we come back with a rate for each leg and a plan for the appointments.