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Content reviewed September 2026. FMC OTI license 016162.
When a shipment needs a warehouse
Most imports go straight from the port to the consignee. A warehouse earns its cost when the cargo can’t, or shouldn’t, go straight there. These are the situations in which importers and exporters ask us for storage.
- Waiting for customs release. The entry is held for documents, an agency review or an exam, and the container’s free time at the terminal is running out. Moving the cargo into storage stops the demurrage and detention clock on the container, though the warehouse type has to fit the cargo’s customs status (see the next section).
- Waiting for the buyer. The goods have arrived but the consignee can’t take them yet: the store isn’t ready, the customer hasn’t paid, or the receiving dock is booked. Storage near the port is usually cheaper than paying for a container to sit.
- Split deliveries. One container holds goods for several customers or several sites. The cargo is unloaded, sorted by consignee or purchase order, and sent out as separate truck deliveries.
- Transloading into domestic trailers. Cargo arriving in a 40′ ocean container is reloaded into a 53′ domestic trailer for the inland leg, so the carrier’s container goes back to the port quickly and the longer trailer carries more per truck.
- Cross-docking to cut storage time. When the onward truck is already booked, cargo moves from the inbound container to the outbound vehicle within hours, without going into storage at all.
- Deconsolidation. A consolidated container, or a buyer’s own consolidation from several suppliers, is unloaded and each shipment separated for delivery.
- Exports waiting to ship. Export cargo from several suppliers is collected and held until there is enough to fill a container, or until the vessel’s receiving window opens, then loaded out together.
- Avoiding port charges. Terminal demurrage and carrier detention or per diem are charged by the day once free time ends. If a container can’t be emptied at its destination in time, emptying it into a warehouse near the port is often the cheaper way out.
Free time, demurrage, per diem and chassis charges are explained on the drayage page. If the problem is only a day or two, the right answer is often a faster pickup, not a warehouse.
Transloading services at US ports
Transloading is moving cargo out of an ocean container and into a domestic trailer, most often from a 40′ ocean container into a 53′ dry van, at a warehouse close to the port or rail ramp. The ocean carrier’s container is emptied and returned near the port, and the domestic trailer carries the cargo inland.
Airlift arranges transloads per shipment through partner warehouses near the terminals and rail ramps; it doesn’t own the warehouses. The drayage to the transload dock and the trucks out of it are arranged the same way as all of Airlift’s trucking: as a non-asset, FMCSA-licensed property broker, through contracted motor carriers. Because Airlift usually also carries the ocean leg and coordinates the customs entry through licensed customs brokers, the release, the drayage, the transload and the outbound trucks run from one shipment file.
How a transload works
- Release. The container is collected only once the carrier and CBP have released it. An ordinary warehouse can take goods only after customs release, so a container still on hold waits at the terminal or goes to a bonded facility instead.
- Drayage to the dock. A contracted trucker collects the container at the terminal or rail ramp and delivers it to the transload warehouse on its receiving appointment.
- Unload and check. The warehouse strips the container, counts the cartons against the packing list and notes any shortage or damage. Floor-loaded cartons can be palletized at this stage if the receiver needs pallets.
- Empty return. The empty goes back to the terminal or depot the ocean carrier names, which stops the per diem (detention) clock on the container.
- Reload and dispatch. The goods are loaded into 53′ trailers by destination, purchase order or the receiver’s routing guide, and leave as full truckloads or smaller loads, the same day or after a few days in storage.
When transloading pays
- Inland destinations. The ocean container doesn’t travel inland and back, so it is returned within the carrier’s free days instead of running up per diem on a long round trip.
- More cargo per truck. A 53′ trailer has more floor length and cube than a 40′ container, so light, bulky cargo can need fewer trucks inland. Dense cargo that reaches the weight limit before it fills the space gains nothing here.
- One container, several destinations. A container holding stock for several distribution centers, stores or customers is split on the dock and each part leaves on its own truck, instead of one container making several stops.
- Avoiding demurrage and detention. When a consignee can’t receive a container before the Last Free Day, emptying it at a transload dock near the port stops both clocks, and the cargo can wait in storage or go out as the receiver is ready.
- Receiver rules. Retailers and distribution centers that set pallet, labeling or appointment rules can be met on the transload dock, together with relabeling or repacking.
Transloading adds a handling step and its cost. For a single delivery to a consignee near the port with a dock and time to unload, delivering the container directly by drayage is usually simpler and cheaper.
Where Airlift arranges transloading
Airlift arranges transloads at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, coordinated by its Los Angeles office, and in the New York and New Jersey port area, coordinated by its New Jersey office. Transloading at other US ports, such as Savannah, Houston, Charleston and Norfolk, and at inland rail ramps, is arranged on request through partner warehouses there.
Transloading vs cross-docking
Transloading describes the change of equipment, from ocean container to domestic trailer. Cross-docking describes the timing: cargo moves from the inbound dock to the outbound dock with little or no storage. A transload is often done as a cross-dock move, the same day, but it can also include a few days of storage in between.
What to send for a transloading quote
- Container details. The container and bill of lading numbers (or the booking number), the size, the port, terminal or rail ramp, and the vessel’s estimated arrival.
- Packing list. Carton count, marks, dimensions and gross weights, and whether the cargo is floor-loaded or palletized.
- Where each part goes. The delivery address for each destination, and how the cargo splits between them, by purchase order, SKU or store.
- Receiver requirements. Delivery appointments, routing guides, pallet type and labeling rules, and any relabeling or palletizing needed on the dock.
- Timing and storage. Whether the trailers leave the same day or the cargo needs a few days of storage first.
- Customs status and hazmat. Whether the entry is filed and by whom, and, for hazardous materials, the safety data sheet, UN number and class.
General, CFS, bonded, general-order and FTZ: which is which
Where imported cargo can be stored depends first on its customs status. Cargo that CBP has released can go to any warehouse. Cargo that hasn’t been released can only sit where CBP allows: at the terminal or container station for a limited time, in a bonded warehouse under a warehouse entry, or in a foreign-trade zone.
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| Type | What it is | Customs status of the goods | When it’s used | With Airlift |
|---|
| General (non-bonded) warehouse | An ordinary commercial warehouse. Short-term, multi-user and cold or secure space all fall here. | Released cargo only. Duty has been paid or secured by the entry. | Holding goods after release: waiting for the buyer, split deliveries, relabeling, kitting. | Arranged per shipment through partner facilities. |
| Container freight station (CFS) | A facility where containers are unloaded (stripped) and loose cargo is sorted and redelivered. A CFS operates under its own CBP bond, independently of the importing carrier (19 CFR 19.40). | Cargo may still be awaiting release. Free time is short, then storage charges accrue daily. | LCL deconsolidation, and unloading containers whose cargo goes to several consignees. | Used on every LCL import; free time and handling come from the CFS. |
| Customs bonded warehouse | A warehouse approved by CBP and covered by the operator’s bond. 19 CFR 19.1 sets out the classes: Class 3 public bonded warehouses store imported goods for anyone; Class 2 are an importer’s private warehouses; Class 8 allow cleaning, sorting and repacking. | Entered for warehouse; duty is paid only when goods are withdrawn for consumption, and not at all if they are withdrawn for export. | Deferring duty on slow-moving stock, holding goods that may be re-exported, or waiting out a documentation problem. | Bonded space on request, depending on location and cargo. |
| General-order (G.O.) warehouse | A Class 11 bonded warehouse used only for general-order merchandise (19 CFR 19.1). | Unentered or unreleased cargo that CBP has taken into its custody, at the consignee’s risk and expense. | Nobody chooses it: cargo is sent there when it isn’t entered in time. | No. The aim is to keep your cargo out of one. |
| Foreign-trade zone (FTZ) | A site authorized by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board and supervised by CBP, where goods are treated as outside US customs territory for formal entry purposes. | Duty is deferred until goods enter US commerce and is not paid on re-exports. | Regular, high-volume importers that store, process or manufacture in the zone. | No. Airlift doesn’t operate a zone; explained here for comparison. |
For most shipments the choice is simpler than the table suggests: released cargo goes to a general warehouse, unreleased cargo waits at the CFS or terminal while the entry is sorted out, and a bonded warehouse is worth its paperwork only when the goods will sit for some time before duty is paid or before they leave the country again.
Bonded warehouses: storing imports before duty is paid
A customs bonded warehouse lets you land goods in the United States and pay the duty later, or never, if the goods leave the country again. Instead of filing an entry for consumption, your customs broker files a warehouse entry on CBP Form 7501 (19 CFR 144.11), and the goods go into the warehouse under the operator’s bond.
The goods can stay for up to five years from the date of importation, not from the day they reached the warehouse (19 CFR 144.5). You can take them out in lots as you sell them. Each withdrawal for consumption pays the duty at the rate in force on the date of withdrawal, and goods withdrawn for export pay no duty at all (19 U.S.C. 1557(a)(1)). When duty rates are changing, that date matters: a rate cut helps you, a rate increase can cost you more than paying on arrival would have.
A bonded warehouse is not a free-for-all. CBP controls every movement in and out, so each withdrawal is a customs filing, not just a pick ticket. Goods can be cleaned, sorted or repacked in a Class 8 warehouse under CBP supervision, but CBP must issue a permit before the work starts, and nothing may be manufactured (19 CFR 19.1 and 19.11).
When a bonded warehouse is worth it
- Goods that will sell slowly over months, where deferring the duty frees up cash.
- Goods that may be re-exported, to Canada, Mexico or elsewhere, where the duty would otherwise have to be paid and then reclaimed.
- Goods whose entry can’t yet be completed, when the importer wants them out of the terminal and away from the general-order clock.
When it isn’t
For goods that will be sold or delivered within days or weeks, the warehouse entry, the bonded operator’s charges and the extra withdrawal filings usually cost more than the duty deferral saves. A general warehouse after normal release is simpler.
Airlift is not a customs broker. The warehouse entry and each withdrawal are filed through Airlift’s licensed customs-broker network or by your own broker; Airlift books the bonded space and the trucking around it.
The 15-day clock and general-order warehouses
Imported cargo can’t wait at the port indefinitely. Merchandise landed without a release permit may stay at the place of unlading only until the fifteenth calendar day after landing (19 CFR 4.37). If no entry has been made by then, CBP can take it into custody as general-order merchandise and send it to a general-order warehouse, a Class 11 bonded warehouse used only for that purpose (19 CFR 19.1).
General-order storage is at the risk and expense of the consignee (19 CFR 127.1): the G.O. warehouse’s storage and handling, plus the cartage to get there, are billed before the cargo is released. The shipment can still be entered from the G.O. warehouse, but only after those charges are paid.
If the cargo is still there six months after the date of importation, it is treated as unclaimed and abandoned, and CBP sells it at public auction (19 U.S.C. 1491(a); 19 CFR 127.11).
How to stay out of general order
- File the ISF on time. For ocean imports, the ISF is due 24 hours before loading at the foreign port. A missing ISF is one of the reasons cargo gets held on arrival.
- File the entry before arrival. Give the broker the invoice, packing list and bill of lading before the vessel arrives, so the release can come through as the cargo is discharged.
- Watch the CFS free time. For LCL, the CFS’s free time is usually far shorter than 15 days, so storage charges start well before the general-order clock runs out.
- Move it into bond if the entry is stuck. If the entry can’t be completed in time, a warehouse entry into a bonded warehouse you chose is usually cheaper and more controllable than general order.
Cross-docking and deconsolidation
Both happen on a warehouse dock, like a transload, and neither needs long-term storage, which is why they are often the cheapest use of a warehouse.
- Cross-docking. Cargo is unloaded from the inbound container or truck and loaded straight onto the outbound vehicle, usually the same day, with little or no time in storage. It works when the onward trucks are booked before the container arrives, and it saves the storage charges a warehouse stay would add.
- Deconsolidation. A container holding several shipments is unloaded and each shipment is separated by its marks for delivery. LCL is deconsolidated at a CFS; a buyer’s own consolidation of several suppliers’ goods can be deconsolidated at a general warehouse once released.
For either, send the packing list with the carton marks and dimensions before arrival, and tell us where each part is going. The dock plans the unloading from that, and the outbound trucks are booked to meet it.
Cold storage and secure storage
- Cold storage. Temperature-controlled space for goods that arrive in a reefer container or by air and must stay chilled or frozen. Tell us the temperature range the goods need and whether they are chilled or frozen. A reefer container needs power until it is unloaded, so the drayage and the warehouse’s receiving appointment are booked before the container is discharged, not after.
- Secure storage. For regulated or high-value cargo. Tell us the value, the commodity and any storage conditions your insurer or your customer sets, and we match a facility that meets them before the cargo is booked in.
- Insurance during storage. Standard marine cargo cover under the Institute Cargo Clauses (A) ends when the goods are unloaded at a warehouse you choose for storage, or 60 days after discharge from the vessel, whichever comes first. If cargo will sit in a warehouse between legs, check the policy covers the storage period, or ask us to quote cover that does.
Repacking, relabeling and other handling
Value-added handling is work done to the goods while they are in the warehouse. We arrange the handling below with the facility and confirm what can be done there before the cargo arrives.
- Repacking. Cargo damaged in transit, packed for the ocean rather than for the customer, or packed in quantities that don’t match the orders is repacked into new cartons or onto new pallets before delivery.
- Relabeling. New carton labels, product labels or customer-specific marks, for example when the goods are going to a different customer from the one the supplier labeled them for.
- Country-of-origin marking. Imported goods must be marked with the English name of their country of origin, legibly, conspicuously and as permanently as the article allows, so the ultimate purchaser in the United States can see it (19 CFR 134.11). If CBP finds goods not legally marked, it notifies the importer to mark, export or destroy them under CBP supervision, at the importer’s expense (19 CFR 134.51), and unmarked goods can owe an additional duty of 10 percent of their final appraised value (19 CFR 134.2). A warehouse is where that marking is usually done, so tell us as soon as a marking notice arrives.
- Kitting. Parts or products from different shipments assembled into sets or kits before delivery.
- Export prep. Export cargo collected from several suppliers, checked against the packing list and prepared for loading into the container.
Bonded cargo is different: while goods are in a bonded warehouse, any cleaning, sorting or repacking needs CBP’s permit first (19 CFR 19.11). Say at inquiry that the cargo is in bond and what needs doing.
How warehousing with Airlift works, step by step
Airlift doesn’t own warehouses. It books space with vetted facilities in its partner network, one shipment at a time, and coordinates the freight, the trucking and the storage as one move. There is no fixed contract: you book warehousing when a shipment needs it.
- Tell us the cargo, the place and the timing. Where the cargo is or will arrive, what it is, how it’s packed, how long it needs storing, whether it is in bond, and what handling it needs.
- We match a facility and book the space. We choose a partner facility that fits the cargo, the location and the customs status: general, cold, secure or bonded. Then we confirm the space, the receiving appointment and any handling with the operator.
- Drayage or trucking in. We book the pickup at the terminal, CFS or airport and the delivery to the warehouse with a contracted carrier, timed to the free time and the receiving appointment.
- Receiving and handling. The warehouse unloads, checks the delivery against the packing list and issues a receipt for what it received. We pass on any shortage or visible damage it notes. Repacking, relabeling, kitting or cross-docking is done as booked.
- Storage. The cargo stays for the period you booked. Our operations team is your contact for the facility, so you don’t deal with it separately.
- Release and delivery, or onward freight. When you’re ready, we book the delivery trucks, or the ocean or air freight for an export or re-export, and release the cargo from the warehouse.
What to send for a warehousing quote
Send these details through the inquiry form on this page, headed “Get a warehousing quote.” Storage is priced on the space, the time and the handling, so the more precisely you describe the cargo, the closer the quote will be to the invoice.
- Location. The port, airport or city where the cargo arrives or needs storing, and where it goes next.
- Commodity. What the goods are, the HTS code if you know it, and the value if secure storage or insurance is needed.
- Packaging. Pallets or loose cartons; the number of pieces and the dimensions and gross weight of each; and whether the pallets can be stacked.
- Volume. Total cubic meters or cubic feet, or the container type and count if it arrives as a full container.
- Storage period. The date the cargo arrives and how long it needs storing: days, weeks or an open-ended period.
- Temperature. Ambient, chilled or frozen, with the temperature range.
- Customs status. Released, awaiting release, or to be stored in bond; and who your customs broker is.
- Handling. Cross-docking, transloading, repacking, relabeling, country-of-origin marking, kitting or export prep, with quantities.
- Delivery plan. How the cargo leaves: one delivery or several, full truckloads or smaller loads, or onward ocean or air freight.
We reply with the storage and handling available at a facility that fits, and the trucking and freight to move the cargo in and out. No rates are published on this site because storage charges depend on the facility, the location and the month.
