Confused By New USTR Port Fees? What Shippers Need to Know

In its 2024 Review of Maritime Transport, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) states that marine vessels carry a whopping 80 percent of global trade — a statistic which reflects maritime transportation’s overwhelming and ever-growing impact on international commerce.

International shipping is, by its very nature, risky business. So many things can disrupt a global supply chain, from sluggish port operations to geopolitical conflict to capacity shortages. Heck, even the weather can set a supply chain off its course, careening toward disaster!
Freight shippers are no strangers to uncertainty. And right now, tariffs are one of the biggest unknowns hanging over the industry.

According to Statista, the volume of seaborne trade reached nearly 12.3 billion metric tons in 2024. With so much cargo to move (and so much profit on the line), who do shippers trust to safely shepherd their freight through international waters?
A foreign trade zone (FTZ) allows companies to defer, reduce, or eliminate customs duties on imported goods.
Using an FTZ warehouse or yard can reduce tariff costs by allowing assembly or manufacturing before duties apply.
FTZs provide operational flexibility, especially for complex supply chains importing multi-component goods.
Bonded warehouses offer simpler compliance but fewer manipulation options and limited storage duration.

The fear of cargo being lost, damaged, or otherwise compromised in transit is a common one. For shippers with international supply chains, these anxieties are intensified by unpredictable factors like war and geopolitical tensions, tariffs, piracy, natural disasters, and more.
Transloading vs cross-docking — what's the difference?
While both are commonly-used logistics methods, the difference between transloading and cross-docking is their purposes.
Transloading focuses on transferring goods between different modes of transportation, often with additional handling steps, while cross-docking focuses on quickly moving goods from inbound to outbound trucks with minimal storage time.

The Port of Baltimore channel has fully reopened to all vessel traffic as of June 10, 2024, following 11 weeks of painstaking progress clearing debris from the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Posted by Carl Verdon on Jun 23, 2025 4:45:00 PM
In its 2024 Review of Maritime Transport, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) states that marine vessels carry a whopping 80 percent of global trade — a statistic..
Posted by Patrick Eversman and Jerry Ramirez on May 19, 2025 3:05:00 PM
Posted by Jay Thomassen on Feb 26, 2025 9:00:00 AM
Freight shippers are no strangers to uncertainty. And right now, tariffs are one of the biggest unknowns hanging over the industry.
Posted by Carl Verdon on Feb 12, 2025 9:00:00 AM
According to Statista, the volume of seaborne trade reached nearly 12.3 billion metric tons in 2024. With so much cargo to move (and so much profit on the line), who do shippers trust to safely shepherd their..
Posted by Brandon Nelson on Oct 23, 2024 9:00:00 AM
A foreign trade zone (FTZ) allows companies to defer, reduce, or eliminate customs duties on imported goods.
Using an FTZ warehouse or yard can reduce tariff costs by allowing..
Posted by Carl Verdon on Sep 25, 2024 3:31:08 PM
The fear of cargo being lost, damaged, or otherwise compromised in transit is a common one. For shippers with international supply chains, these anxieties are intensified by unpredictable factors like war and..
Posted by Carl Verdon on Jun 13, 2024 3:46:40 PM
The Port of Baltimore channel has fully reopened to all vessel traffic as of June 10, 2024, following 11 weeks of painstaking progress clearing debris from the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
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