Flexport launches “proactive” Trade Advisory

San Francisco-based freight forwarder, Flexport, today announced the launch of “Trade Advisory,” a service designed to help its domestic shippers identify cost saving opportunities, explore tariff mitigation strategies, minimize operational risk, and implement best practices for trade compliance amid unprecedented global complexity. 

Flextport calls itself “the modern forwarder,” and notes that most traditional trade law and consulting firms specialize in “reactive” guidance.

By contrast, says the company, Flexport Trade Advisory means to provide “proactive, tailored solutions based on SKU-level data analysis” powered by the Flexport Platform. 

Because Flexport clients use the Platform to manage and track the shipment of their goods, Trade Advisory experts can examine supply chains down to the SKU-level and deliver data-powered analysis and recommendations.

As reported in LM, the U.S.-China trade war caught many shippers off guard as they faced unforeseen duty amounts, customs audits, and penalties. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also increased enforcement efforts across all products and industries. 

From 2018 to 2019, Flexport found that, on average, the percentage of customs duties (relative to freight and commercial invoice value) paid by its clients on US-bound import shipments from China increased by 84%.

“Customs has always been high stakes: it is one of the more data-intensive functions within logistics, with penalties for small errors and the potential to disrupt a company's supply chain,” said Adam Dambrov, Director of Flexport’s Trade Advisory Services. “Our team brings decades of deep customs and global trade experience to help clients proactively uncover what’s possible and build resilient supply chains, rather than just mitigating Customs-related costs and issues.” 

Flexport is already providing its U.S. clients with Trade Advisory services including duty drawback, compliance assessments, tariff classification, customs valuation, protests, prior disclosures, antidumping and countervailing duty assistance, training, and assistance with Section 301 tariffs. The company plans to expand Trade Advisory Services into Canada, Europe and Asia.

Tom Gould, Vice President of Customs and Trade Advisory, told LM in an interview that Flexport has been able to capture data that is far more “granular” than its competitors.

“This has been a key differentiator for us,” he says. “And it positions us well in a marketplace once dominated by mega-forwarders and the Big Four consultancies.”

He added that the current state of global trade disruption is likely to intensify before it improves. 

“Most logistics managers – especially those in the electronic components sector – are waiting to see what other steps are needed to mitigate risk in a chaotic world,” he concluded.