QUICK ANSWER PartStop, a heavy-duty truck parts distributor in Tacoma, Washington, was running its imports through five separate vendors and losing money at every handoff. After Platton took over the full import cycle, total import logistics costs dropped 23 percent, average ocean transit shortened by 7 days, 97 percent of containers loaded on schedule through peak season, and port storage charges went to zero.
PartStop sources aftermarket truck parts from suppliers in China, Cambodia and Vietnam, all of whom sell on EXW terms, so every step from the factory door to the Tacoma warehouse was PartStop's problem. The company came to Platton after years of managing five vendors, chasing documents between them, and paying for every mistake in the chain. This is what the setup looked like, what changed, and the numbers that came out of it.
PartStop: 500K+ heavy-duty truck parts, three Asian origins
PartStop distributes aftermarket parts for Kenworth, Peterbilt, Freightliner, Volvo, Mack and other heavy-duty trucks to fleets, repair shops and owner-operators across the US. The company stocks over 500,000 parts and ships nationwide from Tacoma, a few minutes from the port its containers arrive through.
PartStop at a glance
| Headquarters | Tacoma, Washington, near the Port of Tacoma |
|---|---|
| Business | Aftermarket heavy-duty truck parts, retail and B2B |
| Inventory | 500,000+ parts for nine truck makes |
| Sourcing | Multiple suppliers in China, Cambodia and Vietnam |
| Purchase terms | EXW, all suppliers |
EXW is the detail that shaped everything else. When a supplier sells EX Works, the buyer takes over at the factory gate: export handling, consolidation, ocean freight, customs and delivery are all the importer's to arrange. For a company buying from five or more suppliers across three countries, that is a full-time logistics operation. (For the mechanics of EXW and why importers get caught by it, see our FOB vs EXW guide.)
The starting point: five vendors between the factory door and Tacoma
How the old chain was stacked
To move one purchase order into stock, PartStop coordinated five separate companies:
1. A freight forwarder at origin for export handling and consolidation
2. A supplier-owned warehouse holding cargo until the rest arrived
3. A consolidator arranging the FCL and LCL shipments
4. A separate company handling the customs entry at destination
5. A drayage carrier pulling containers from the port
None of these vendors answered to each other. PartStop's own team passed freight documents from one to the next and hoped the details landed on time.
What the split chain was costing them
The problems repeated on every order:
- Cargo went missing at the consolidation stage. What arrived in Tacoma was regularly less than what each supplier had shipped, and no vendor in the chain took responsibility for the gap.
- Five vendors meant five separate invoices, each with its own set of charges.
- Destination charges were unpredictable, with surprise invoices at the port from destination agents PartStop had never contracted.
- Charges were communicated late, so containers sat uncleared at the port while the paperwork caught up, and the release came late.
- PartStop overpaid duty when incorrect cargo descriptions in supplier paperwork went through unchecked.
- There was no visibility into freight status or trucking details, so stockouts surfaced without warning.
- When something went wrong, the ball moved from one court to another. Responsibility spread thin, and the additional charges always landed on PartStop.
The fix: one team from supplier pickup to final delivery
After a discovery call and a review of the business case with PartStop's management, Platton took over the import: supplier coordination and pickup at origin, consolidation, ocean freight, customs clearance managed on PartStop's behalf, and drayage to the warehouse. One team and a single point of contact instead of five vendors. Here is what that changed, number by number.
Cargo ready dates coordinated across every supplier
Origin storage was the first leak to close. Platton now owns the cargo ready dates, checks them with each supplier, and shows them in the Platton system, so PartStop sees when each supplier's order is approaching ready. Pickup waits until the full order is actually complete, which keeps cargo in free storage at the supplier instead of paid storage at origin. That change alone cut origin storage costs 34 percent.
Piece counts checked at pickup and again at consolidation
The missing-cargo problem ended with a boring fix: counting. Every pickup includes a check of product count and documentation at the supplier's door, repeated at origin consolidation. Since the switch, every shipment has arrived in Tacoma with a full piece count, and cargo damage sits at zero.
A warehouse that only does consolidation
Multi-supplier cargo needs a facility built for combining it, not a general storage floor. Platton moved PartStop's freight into a warehouse that does consolidation as its core work. Combining and preparing the cargo there costs 13 percent less and runs 28 percent faster than the old supplier-owned setup.
FCL space booked before peak season
Peak season punishes late bookers. Platton pre-books FCL container space and locks rates early, so PartStop's freight is confirmed while the spot market scrambles. The score since the switch: 97 percent of containers loaded on the vessel on schedule, peak season included. Picking the fastest sailings on each rotation also shortened average ocean transit to the US by 7 days.
Documents ready before the ship arrives
Late paperwork is what used to park containers at the port. Platton controls origin documentation from the start: suppliers prepare documents correctly, and everything reaches the destination side well before the vessel does, in line with the customs broker and CBP requirements. Holds over paperwork stopped, and every container has been pulled by drayage within free time. Port storage charges: zero cases.
One invoice and live data for every leg
Each shipment now closes with one itemized invoice covering all legs, so PartStop sees landed cost per unit without reconciling five bills. The Platton platform shows live data for every leg of the import and feeds stock prediction, which keeps parts available for sale instead of running out between shipments.
The results: 23% lower costs, 7 days faster, zero port charges
PartStop results with Platton
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Total import logistics cost | Down 23% |
| Origin storage costs | Down 34%, using free supplier storage until cargo is ready |
| Consolidation and cargo prep | 13% cheaper, 28% faster |
| Average ocean transit to the US | 7 days shorter |
| Containers loaded on schedule | 97%, including peak season |
| Cargo damage | 0%, full piece count on every arrival |
| Port storage charges | 0 cases, every container pulled within free time |
| Invoicing | One itemized invoice per shipment, all legs |
| Stock availability | Out-of-stock situations eliminated via stock prediction |
QUOTE: "When we first had a discovery call and analyzed our business, we honestly didn't believe Platton could deliver all of this. But after the first shipments, all our concerns disappeared. Their team is very professional and responds on time. And while it's not always necessary, because the information in the system is so clear, it's always great to have a dedicated manager on the phone to answer our questions. We will scale our volume, and we believe this partnership brings not only cost savings but a better logistics experience overall." (PartStop management team)
Why this import setup needed an import-focused forwarder
Nothing in PartStop's old chain was unusual. Most US importers buying EXW from several Asian suppliers end up with some version of it: an origin forwarder here, a consolidator there, separate customs and trucking at destination, and the importer's own staff holding it together. A standard freight forwarder rarely fixes this, because imports are one product line among exports, air and everything else, and each leg sits with a different desk or a different vendor.
Platton's operation is built around imports into the US, so the fix was not a better vendor for one leg. It was ownership of the whole importer's side of the shipment: supplier coordination at origin, consolidation, ocean space, customs clearance with the broker, port pickup and delivery, measured with one set of numbers. PartStop's management got their time back for the parts business, which is the actual point.
Related import guides
What is an import freight forwarder: what the import-focused model covers and where it differs from a standard forwarder.
How to choose a freight forwarder: the vetting questions that would have surfaced PartStop's problems earlier.
FOB vs EXW: what EXW terms actually hand the importer, and when to negotiate away from them.
