Customs clearance, step by step

Clearance sounds like one event. It is three, and knowing which one you are waiting on changes what you should do about it.

The three steps

Declaration. Your broker files the entry: what the goods are, their classification, value, origin and who is importing them. This can usually be done before the vessel arrives.

Assessment. The authority decides duty and taxes and whether to examine the shipment. Selection is partly risk based and partly random.

Release. Duties paid, no holds outstanding, the authority permits the goods to enter. Only now can the terminal hand over the container, and only if the carrier has also released it.

Where it goes slow

Overwhelmingly documentation. A commercial invoice missing an origin statement, a classification that does not match the description, a licence for a controlled product that nobody applied for. These are found at declaration and fixed by email, which takes as long as the slowest party.

Physical inspection is less common than people fear but far more expensive when it happens, because the container is moved, opened and repacked, all on your account.

Making it faster

Send documents to your broker when the vessel sails, not when it arrives. File pre-arrival where the regime allows it. And keep a classification file for products you import regularly, so nobody has to work it out again under time pressure with a container accruing charges.