This is the main work. We prepare and file the import declaration, arrange payment of duty and other charges, attend any inspection, and hand you the released cargo or its release papers.
We file as soon as the documents allow rather than when the vessel berths, because a declaration lodged early is a consignment in a queue that has already started. On a complete file our own clearance times have averaged between two and four working days for the last three years.
Inspections happen and they are not a sign that anything is wrong. What matters is that somebody who knows the file is standing there when the container is opened: an inspector with a question and an agent who can answer it is ten minutes, and the same question with nobody present is a note and another day.
Our fee is per declaration, by the number of lines rather than by the value of the goods, and it is on the invoice as a single figure. Duty, port charges and storage are passed on at cost with the receipts attached.