Customs clearance in MiamiThe clock on your container started before it was loaded.

A signed customs power of attorney, an active customs bond, the commercial invoice showing values and country of origin, the packing list, and the bill of lading or airway bill. Add the certificate or certification of origin if you are claiming a free trade agreement, and any partner agency paperwork the commodity needs: FDA prior notice for food, an EPA form for engines and vehicles, a USDA permit for plant material. Send what you have and we will tell you what is missing before it matters.

The importer of record is the owner or purchaser of the goods, or a licensed broker they designate. That is you, in most cases, and it is not a formality. The importer of record owes reasonable care on classification and valuation, owes the duties, taxes and fees, and has to keep the records for five years. A broker files on your behalf; the legal responsibility stays with you. We would rather you know that at the start than read it in a CBP letter.

A single transaction bond covers one entry and is priced against that shipment’s value and duty. A continuous bond covers every entry you file, at every port, for a year. The continuous bond is set at ten percent of the duties, taxes and fees you paid the previous calendar year, in multiples of $10,000, with a $50,000 minimum. Rule of thumb: if you are importing more than a handful of times a year, the continuous bond stops being the expensive option. If your volume jumps, tell us, because an undersized bond gets entries rejected and nobody warns you first.

The Importer Security Filing, or “ten plus two”, is ten pieces of data CBP wants before your container is loaded onto the ship overseas, so it can be risk-assessed while it is still on the other side of the ocean. It is due no later than 24 hours before lading at the foreign port. Late, inaccurate or missing filings draw liquidated damages of $5,000 per violation, and CBP can hold the container on arrival as well. It applies to ocean imports only. It is the single cheapest problem to avoid and one of the most expensive to have.

When the file is complete and nothing is flagged, release can come the same day the entry is accepted. Realistically, what decides the answer is not us and not CBP. It is whether the documents were right when they arrived, whether a partner agency has an interest, and whether the container gets selected for an exam. A non-intrusive x-ray is usually short. An intensive exam at a centralized examination station is measured in days, not hours. We will give you the honest read on your shipment rather than a number that sounds good on a website.

Demurrage is charged by the marine terminal when your container sits on their property past free time. Detention is charged by the ocean carrier for keeping their container or chassis out past the allowance, usually after it has left the terminal. Different companies, different clocks, frequently on the same shipment. Since the FMC’s 2024 billing rule, those invoices have to reach the billed party within 30 calendar days of when the charges stopped accruing, and may only be billed to the party that contracted the transport or the consignee taking delivery.

No, not for commercial freight. Duty-free de minimis treatment under section 321 was suspended in 2025, and CBP published an interim final rule in June 2026 suspending it indefinitely for merchandise arriving through every mode other than the international postal network. Shipments that used to ride in under $800 duty-free now need a formal or informal entry like anything else. This is an area that has moved repeatedly. The position stated here is current as of September 18, 2026, and we will tell you where it stands when you call.

Yes. An entry can be filed at any US port of entry, and we manage clearance at any of them, with the entry filed by the licensed customs broker we work with. What changes outside Miami is the freight, not the file: pickup and delivery at another port is handled by a third party rather than our own trucks, and the cargo does not come into our own bonded CFS. In Miami the building, the dock, the bonded deconsolidation and the fleet are all ours, which is why we can do more here after release. Tell us the port at booking and we will tell you plainly which parts we do ourselves and which parts we are subcontracting.

If the goods qualify, yes. CAFTA-DR does not require a government form. A certification containing the required data elements is enough, and the producer, exporter or importer can make it. What matters is that the goods actually meet the rule of origin for their classification and that you keep the supporting records, because CBP can verify the claim after the fact and assess duties and penalties if it does not hold up. Tell us at booking, not after entry; retroactive claims are possible but they are work.

Yes to all three. Our staff are dangerous goods trained and certified and we build the declaration in-house rather than sending you elsewhere for it. See dangerous goods consulting, or the free hazmat segregation checker if you just need to know whether two classes ship in one box. FDA and USDA regulated commodities come with their own data and their own deadlines, and we handle that alongside the entry rather than treating it as your problem.