Your container is coming. Here is what actually has to happen.
Nobody tells a first-time importer the order of operations, so the usual way to learn it is a demurrage invoice. This is the whole sequence, who normally does each part, and which bits are legally yours no matter who you hire.
This is general process information, not customs advice. We are not a customs broker and cannot tell you how to classify goods, what duty you owe, or what to declare. Those are questions for a licensed broker — and getting them wrong is the importer’s liability, not the broker’s.
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0 of 9 steps ticked off. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere — this list lives in your browser only.
- Before the ship sails
For ocean shipments into the United States, an Importer Security Filing has to be with CBP 24 hours before the container is loaded overseas. Miss it and the penalty lands on the importer of record — you — not on your supplier. Your broker or forwarder normally files it, but only if someone has told them to.
- Before the ship sails
A continuous bond covers a year of imports; a single-entry bond covers one shipment. Almost every commercial ocean import needs one. Brokers usually arrange it, and it is the first thing that trips up a first-time importer — the bond has to exist before the goods arrive, not after.
- While it is on the water
Somebody has to watch the vessel schedule, the transhipment, and the arrival notice. If you bought on FOB terms this is yours to arrange. If you bought CIF or DDP, your supplier arranged it — and you may not control who is handling your box at the other end.
- A few days before arrival
The carrier or NVOCC sends an arrival notice with the vessel, the estimated arrival, the charges owed and the terminal. This is the document your broker needs. If it went to your supplier instead of you, ask for it now — nothing moves without it.
- On arrival
Two separate releases have to happen: customs release (CBP is satisfied with the entry) and freight release (the carrier has been paid and issues the release). Both must be done before anyone can collect the box. People routinely get one and assume they have both.
- The clock starts
Once the container is available you get a few free days at the terminal. After that the port charges demurrage per container per day, and the trucking company charges detention once the box leaves the terminal but is not returned. These are the charges that turn a manageable shipment into an expensive one, and they accrue whether or not you know they have started.
- Collection
The short move from the terminal to a warehouse or your own facility is drayage. The trucking company needs the release, the terminal appointment, and a chassis. Full container: the box comes to you and goes back empty. Less than a container: it goes to a deconsolidation facility first and you collect loose pallets.
- Same day
For a full container you typically have a couple of hours to unload before the driver has to leave, unless you have paid for the container to be dropped. The empty then has to be returned to a specific terminal or depot by a specific date, or detention keeps running.
- After
CBP can ask about an entry for five years afterwards, and the liability is the importer's. Keep the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, entry summary and proof of payment. Your broker keeps their own file, but the legal obligation is yours.
The two words that cost the most money
Demurrage is charged by the port when your container sits at the terminal past its free time. Detention is charged by the carrier when the container has left the terminal but has not been returned empty. They are different charges from different companies, they can run at the same time, and both are typically billed per container per day.
The single most useful thing you can do before your box lands is find out the exact date your free time ends, and have a trucker booked before it does.