“Preparation is everything” — How freight forwarders can streamline customs clearance

In 2025, importers, exporters and their logistics partners have to contend with stricter environmental pressures, evolving trade agreements and tariff changes, and demands for more uniform customs procedures globally.

Even for logistics specialists like freight forwarders, these emerging challenges might represent a tipping point that stretches their resources too thin. The International Forwarding Association puts part of this down to a digital innovation lag, with a lack of e-booking capabilities limiting the industry’s “ability to handle high volumes of orders efficiently” and impacting “the forwarder’s responsiveness during peak demand periods”.

To mitigate these issues, Maersk enables customers to add customs to ocean bookings online. This provides freight forwarders a one-stop-shop for customs and ocean shipments, freeing up resources to focus on core revenue streams.

But that’s just the endgame, so to speak. To get more insight on what freight forwarders can do before the point of booking to streamline the process, we talked to Karin Utternas, Customs Process Administrator at Maersk. In this interview, she offers some practical advice based on her experience in the customs industry.

For example, a recent analysis of over 600,000 transactions showed one in three declarations to be incorrect.

Freight forwarders should therefore work with their customers to meticulously prepare the documentation and avoid any errors. In other words, that means “checking and double-checking the documents,” while Utternas also recommends freight forwarders give their customers a checklist of what to keep in mind when preparing cargo documentation, as well as preparing them for questions or with additional information in cases where cargo is held for further checks. 

Any failure to stay updated with the regulations risks hold-ups at the ports. Here, Utternas echoes her earlier message about undertaking due diligence and being aware of rule changes and laws well in advance of committing to a delivery date and booking cargo for a shipment.

At Maersk, we’re able to support freight forwarders through our deep industry-wide customs expertise, local regulatory knowledge and global footprint of more than 2,500 customs experts. For more information on our customs services, visit this page.

Even at the best of times, though, risks can be daunting. To help keep everyone aligned, Utternas suggests that freight forwarders keep a “simple glossary of key terminology” used in the customs process so that business owners can understand what they are being asked to provide and why.

Be prepared to act quickly

Naturally, there will be times when even the best-laid preparations aren’t sufficient. And when the documentation isn’t correct, freight forwarders may need to act quickly to get things back on track. “When something goes wrong, many questions arise, leading to delays and increased costs,” Utternas explains.

However, she adds that this is an area where a partner like Maersk can provide real value. “At Maersk, we have so many experts in offices around the world, and because we have strong relationships with the customs authorities, we can always pick up the phone and work towards a resolution.”

Maersk can act as a strategic partner for all your customs clearance needs. And by working in this way, freight forwarders will gain a single point of contact, enabling cost savings on handover fees by combining customs with ocean bookings.