Customs
Customs exams, in-bond moves and release-day drayage, Miami
What happens to a container in Miami between the entry being filed and the freight delivered: CBP exams, in-bond moves under seal, and release-day pickup.
Who does what, in one paragraph
An import has two halves. One is paperwork: the entry, the classification, the duty, the partner-agency filings. A licensed customs broker does that half, and the licence is a real federal credential rather than a job title. The other half is physical: a box sitting in a terminal, a hold that has to be trucked to an exam station, a seal that cannot be broken until it reaches a bonded facility, an empty that has to go back. That half is this operation.
Yes, clearance is handled for you: the entry is filed by the licensed customs broker we work with, arranged together with the truck, so the paperwork half and the physical half are not left for you to join up. What we make certain is that the day your freight clears is the day it moves, because a released container that nobody picked up is burning money at the same rate as a held one. The broker files; the truck is already booked.
The clocks nobody warns you about
Three clocks run at once and they are not the same clock. Free time is what the terminal gives you before demurrage starts, counted in days that include the day a hold lands. Per diem starts when the container leaves the terminal and runs until the empty is returned, which is why a box emptied fast is cheaper than a box emptied carefully. And the exam itself has no clock at all: CBP works to its own queue.
What that means in practice is that a container under exam can accrue terminal charges while sitting in a queue nobody controls. The charges do not pause because the delay is the government's. Planning for that, with a pre-pull where it is allowed and a yard to put the box on, is most of what separates a cheap import from an expensive one.
The four jobs this turns into
Tariff and duty refunds
The 2025 tariffs were struck down and the money is being refunded with interest. Yes, we handle tariff refunds. If you imported during the tariff window, tell us what you imported and when, and we take the claim from there.
Customs exam drayage
CBP flagged your container. Somebody now has to truck it to the exam station and back, the clocks are all still running, and you are paying for every day of it. The trucking is us; here is the rest of it, plainly.
Bonded and in-bond trucking in Miami
Freight that has not cleared customs, moving legally anyway: off PortMiami or Port Everglades to a bonded warehouse or a container freight station, port to port across the country, or straight back out of it. Sealed, under bond, on a deadline.
Customs clearance coordination
Yes, we handle customs clearance, and it is arranged together with the truck, so the day your freight clears is the day it moves. You do not have to go and find anyone. A box that sits released is burning money for no reason at all.
From entry filed to freight delivered
| Stage | Who moves it | What is running |
|---|---|---|
| Arrival notice and entry filed | Licensed customs broker | Free time begins at discharge |
| Released, or held for exam | CBP decides | Free time keeps running |
| Drayage to the exam station and back | This operation | Demurrage once free time ends |
| Pre-pull before the last free day | This operation | Demurrage stops, per diem starts |
| In-bond move under seal, if it has not cleared | This operation | Per diem, and the bond's own deadline |
| Delivery, unload, or transload | This operation | Per diem until the empty goes back |
| Empty returned | This operation | All of it stops |
If an entry is filed and nobody has booked the truck, the paperwork finishing early buys nothing. Send the arrival notice and the delivery address and the move is arranged around the release rather than after it.
The writing behind these moves
Around the move
Under bond, in detail
Questions
Réponses directes
Who files the customs entry?
We handle it: the entry is filed through the licensed customs broker we work with, arranged for you together with the truck. Customs business is licensed federally under 19 USC 1641, which is why the filing goes through that licence. The drayage, the exams, the in-bond moves, the storage and the empty return run from this desk on the same thread. If you do not have a broker, say so when you send the arrival notice and the entry and the truck are set up on one thread. If you already have one, they file and we work alongside them.
My container was flagged for a CBP exam. What happens now?
The container has to be trucked from the terminal to the exam site and back, and that trucking is the part you pay for and schedule. A VACIS or X-ray exam is comparatively quick because the box is scanned intact. A tailgate exam opens the doors and looks at what is in reach. An intensive exam at a Centralized Examination Station is the expensive one: the container is stripped, inspected and repacked, and it can hold the box for days. CBP sets the queue and nobody can accelerate it.
Does the free time clock stop while CBP holds my container?
No. That is the hardest fact in this cluster. Terminal free time keeps counting while a container waits in an exam queue, and demurrage starts when it runs out regardless of whose decision caused the delay. The defence is to plan for it: know the last free day the moment the arrival notice lands, and use a pre-pull where the terminal allows one so the box is on our yard instead of on their clock.
Can you pick up the day the entry is released?
Yes, if the move is booked before the release rather than after it. A release that arrives at four in the afternoon with no truck arranged becomes a next-day pickup and another day of charges. Send the container number, the terminal and the expected release date and the appointment is lined up against it.
What is an in-bond move and when do I need one?
It is freight that has not cleared customs moving legally anyway, under a bond and a seal, to a bonded facility, to another port, or back out of the country. You need one when the entry will not be filed where the box landed: goods clearing inland, freight moving to a bonded warehouse, or cargo that was never meant to enter US commerce at all. The seal stays intact the whole way and the paperwork travels with the driver.
Can you store freight that has not cleared customs?
Yes. We move it in bond, under seal, to the bonded facility the entry names, it waits there under bond, and we move it again when it is time. The bonded storage and the truck are arranged together, and once the freight has cleared it is stored by the pallet and by the day.
My container is held by FDA or USDA, not by CBP. Is that different?
Different agency, same truck. A partner government agency hold puts the container in a queue belonging to FDA, USDA, EPA or another agency, and the box usually still has to be moved to a facility where the agency can inspect or sample it. Produce and seafood arriving in Miami see these holds constantly, and a reefer under a PGA hold is burning genset fuel and per diem while it waits. The filing side belongs to the broker; the moving, the plugging in and the waiting belong here.
Do you file the ISF?
No. The importer security filing is customs business and belongs to the broker or the importer of record, and it is due before the vessel loads at origin rather than on arrival. By the time a container is a trucking problem the ISF is long settled, or it is a penalty that has nothing to do with the truck.
We overpaid duty during the tariff window. Can that be recovered?
Start by sending what you imported during the window and you will be told where you stand: which charges are refundable, what the filing costs, and the deadlines that decide whether a claim is still alive. The claim itself is filed by the importer of record or a licensed customs broker, and you will be told who has to file yours.