Core Offer

Brokerage Process Review

A working session with a licensed U.S. customs broker to walk through how your customs clearance process runs today — document intake, ISF data flow, release visibility, CBP exam coordination, and compliance exposure — and what to change first. The review is free.

Schedule a Brokerage Process Review

Urgent shipment or need a quote?

Talk to a licensed broker directly — no gatekeeping, no ticket queue.

Who you'll be talking to

Mauricio Larenas

Licensed U.S. Customs Broker, CHB #42750

Not a sales rep, and not an account coordinator relaying questions to someone else. View credentials.

What it costs

Free

There's no fee for the review and no obligation to move any business afterward. We do it because most of what we'd want to know about a prospective client's operation is the same thing they need to know about it themselves. The scheduling page shows the meeting length when you pick a time.

What a Brokerage Process Review Is

Most customs clearance problems aren't caused by a single bad entry. They're caused by process gaps — nobody owns document intake, ISF data arrives by whatever channel the overseas agent prefers, exam notices land in one person's inbox, and the importer finds out about a hold from their trucker.

The review walks through how your process actually runs, shipment by shipment, using your own documents. We're looking for the places where an entry depends on someone remembering something, because those are the places that fail under volume.

You leave with a written assessment. Whether you use it with us, with your current broker, or on your own is your call.

What the Session Covers

We work through these in order. If your operation only has exposure in two of them, we spend the time there instead of walking the full list for its own sake.

  1. How documents reach the filer

    Where the commercial invoice, packing list, and bill of lading come from, who checks them, and what happens when something is missing on a Friday afternoon.

  2. How ISF data is collected and confirmed

    Who supplies each data element, who confirms the filing went in, and how amendments are handled when the manufacturer or stuffing location changes after submission.

  3. How release status gets communicated

    How your team, your customer, and your trucker learn that cargo is released — and how they learn when it isn't.

  4. What happens when CBP holds or exams cargo

    Who receives the notice, who coordinates drayage to the CES, who tells the importer, and whether there's a defined escalation path or just a phone tree.

  5. Where the entry itself carries risk

    HTS classification, valuation, country of origin, AD/CVD scope, PGA data, and bond sufficiency — the places where an entry passes today and produces a CF-28 later.

  6. Which gaps matter most

    Not every gap is worth fixing. We separate the ones creating real exposure or repeated customer escalations from the ones you can live with.

What You Receive

A clear assessment of your current customs process, the compliance risks we identified, prioritized recommendations, and a recommended path forward.

Prioritized means ranked. If we find six things, you get an opinion on which one to fix first and why, not six equally weighted bullet points. And if the honest answer is that your process is sound, that's what the assessment says.

Who Does What

The review only works if both sides bring something. Here's the split.

You

  • Provide the entry documents, ISF records, and bond details we ask for ahead of time.
  • Bring someone who knows how the process actually runs day to day — not only how it's supposed to run.
  • Tell us what's already been tried, so we don't recommend it back to you.
  • Decide what to act on. The recommendations are yours to use or ignore.

AP Customs

  • Review what you send before the meeting so the session isn't spent reading documents.
  • Walk the process with you and name where ownership is unclear.
  • Identify compliance risks in classification, valuation, origin, AD/CVD scope, PGA data, and bond coverage.
  • Deliver the written assessment with recommendations ranked by what matters most.
  • Say plainly when an issue is outside a customs broker's scope and belongs with trade counsel.

What neither side controls: CBP's targeting decisions, exam selection, and release timing. No broker controls those. What a process can control is how fast you find out, who responds, and whether the documentation holds up when CBP asks.

What to Have Ready

None of this is mandatory — you can book and show up empty-handed. But the review is only as specific as what you bring, and real documents make it far more useful than a conversation about them.

  • A few recent entry packets Entry summary (CBP Form 7501), commercial invoice, packing list, and bill of lading for two or three shipments that went normally — plus one that didn't. You
  • Your ISF records Recent ISF confirmations and any amendments. Seeing the actual timestamps tells us more about your data flow than a description of it will. You
  • Bond information Whether you hold a continuous bond or file single-entry bonds, the bond amount, and the surety. If a bond insufficiency notice has come through, bring it. You or your importer
  • How your current broker workflow runs Who your team emails, what a normal update looks like, and how an exception gets escalated. A screenshot of a typical thread is enough. You
  • Any recent holds, exams, or CBP notices Exam notices, CF-28 or CF-29 requests, or liquidated damages claims — anything that already tells us where the process is under pressure. You
  • The specific problem, if there is one Most reviews start from a real shipment that went wrong. If you have one, that's the most useful thing you can bring. You

Send what you can ahead of time and we'll review it before we meet. If any of it is sensitive, redact pricing and party names — we can read a process from a redacted packet.

Who Should Schedule One — and Who Shouldn't

A process review is worth your time when there's a process to review. Plenty of importers don't have one yet, and for them this meeting is the wrong starting point.

Schedule one if

  • You run an NVOCC or freight forwarding operation and customs problems are reaching your customers before they reach you.
  • Release timing is unpredictable and nobody on your team can explain why one entry cleared in hours and the next took days.
  • ISF data arrives late or incomplete often enough that someone is chasing it on most shipments.
  • You've had repeat CBP exams or holds and don't know what's driving the selections.
  • You're onboarding a new supplier, product line, or importer and want the classification and bond questions settled before the first container ships.
  • You're evaluating whether to change brokers and want an outside read on what your current process actually does well.

Don't schedule one if

  • You're importing one routine shipment of a commodity you already classify correctly. There's no process to review — call or email us and we'll quote the entry.
  • You need a price. A review looks at workflow, not rates. Use the quote request above and we'll respond with pricing.
  • You have cargo on hold right now. A scheduled meeting is the wrong tool for an active hold — call (954) 461-6152 so it gets worked today.
  • You need legal representation on a penalty case, a protest, or a forced labor detention. We're a licensed customs brokerage, not a law firm. We'll say so and point you toward trade counsel.
  • Your current broker is working and you have no open questions. Nothing here needs fixing, and we'll tell you that rather than manufacture a finding.

What Happens After You Book

No sales sequence, no discovery call before the call.

  1. You pick a time on the scheduling page

    The scheduler shows available slots and the meeting length. You'll get a calendar invite with the meeting link.

  2. You send whatever documents you have

    Reply to the confirmation email with entry packets, ISF records, or bond details. Optional, but it changes how specific the review can be.

  3. We review your process together

    Working session with Mauricio. We go where your exposure actually is rather than reading through a fixed script.

  4. You receive the written assessment

    Identified compliance risks, prioritized recommendations, and a recommended path forward — yours regardless of whether we work together.

Ready to Review Your Brokerage Process?

Bring a shipment that went wrong and we'll work backward from it. The review is free, and you'll leave with a written assessment either way.

Schedule a Brokerage Process Review

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