containers picked up the same day the terminal releases them
93%Why importers choose Platton
There are concrete reasons why importers choose Platton, and none of them are adjectives. What follows is situations and numbers: what working with Platton looks like on the days that decide how an import went.
Built around the importer's side of the shipment
Platton is a freight forwarding company built for companies importing into the US, whether you need the full chain run by one team, or just the piece you are missing: ocean or air freight, customs clearance, drayage, or final delivery. Our clients source from China, Vietnam, India and Europe into all major US gateways. A standard forwarder runs imports, exports, air, ocean, and every cargo type side by side; Platton's operation is set up for the buying side of the trade, which shows up in the details below, not in the slogan.
One coordinator, not a vendor chain
A container gets flagged on a Friday afternoon. On a five-vendor setup, that news travels through an origin office, a shipping line, whoever handles customs, a trucking dispatcher, and finally you, each with their own working hours and their own definition of urgent. At Platton, the person who booked your shipment is the person who sees the flag and the person who calls you, with the next step already in motion.
That is not a hypothetical. PartStop, a Tacoma truck-parts distributor, came to Platton running exactly that five-vendor chain and collapsed it into one, with results they put their name on.
Start with one piece of the import
Roughly 7 out of 10 clients begin with a single task: pull a container that just arrived, clear one shipment, run customs and drayage together. About 8 in 10 of those later hand over more of the chain, but that is a result, not a requirement. There is no minimum volume, no onboarding project, and no pressure to move everything. Bring the piece that hurts; the rest is your call.
The gap between release and pickup, closed
The most expensive days in importing happen between customs release and port pickup, when two vendors each assume the other one is watching. At Platton, customs coordination and drayage scheduling sit on the same calendar, so a release turns into a pickup instead of a pause.
average from gate-out to delivery
36 hoursaverage saved per container in avoided fees
$280Lanes we actually run
Weekly departures move clients' cargo from China, Vietnam, India, and Europe into all major US gateways, with China to the USA as the deepest lane. On the ground, drayage reaches well past the coastal gateways, into the inland rail ramps, coordinated from Platton's own US offices. Ask about your specific lane and commodity; the answer will be shipment counts and transit realities, not a coverage map with every country shaded in.
Rates and fees you can read
Quotes are itemized: ocean freight, origin charges, the customs side, drayage, delivery, each on its own line, with duty exposure estimated before you book. When something conditional exists, like exam fees or storage, it is named as conditional instead of appearing on the invoice as a surprise. Comparing a Platton quote against your current forwarder takes one real shipment and ten minutes.
The record you can check yourself
The case studies published on this site carry real numbers their clients approved: PartStop's 23% cost reduction and the Razor Group import program. The offices in Seattle, Portland, Chicago, and Savannah are physical places you can find on a map. Platton is a member of WCA and NCBFAA. None of this replaces running a shipment with us, which is why the ask at the bottom of this page is a quote, not a contract.
Where Platton is not the right fit
Courier parcels move better with courier networks. Purely domestic freight with no import connection has carriers who do only that. And companies exporting from the US need an export desk, which is not what this operation is built around. If your work is importing into the US, in whole or in one piece, that is the fit.
Common Questions About Working With Platton
Yes, and it is a common first job: a container already on the water, or already sitting at a US terminal, gets taken over, unblocked, and delivered. The take-over starts with a status diagnosis in writing, usually the same day, so you know which problem you actually have before anyone charges you to fix it. How that works in practice is covered in our stuck container guide.
Ocean cargo moves through all major US gateways, and drayage runs across 42 ports and rail ramps, from Los Angeles and Long Beach through Houston and Chicago to New York, New Jersey, and Savannah. If your port is not on the usual lists, ask; the rail-ramp network reaches further than the port map suggests.
No. Most clients start with one task, one container, or one problem shipment, and decide about the rest after seeing how the first one runs. Pricing is per shipment, itemized, with no volume threshold behind it. The clients who eventually move everything do it because the single jobs went well, which is the only sales pitch that means anything in freight.
You send the shipment details, you get an itemized quote, and once you book: documents collected and checked, freight booked, filings prepared before arrival, pickup scheduled before release, and delivery confirmed to your door. You see status without asking for it, and the person running the shipment introduces themselves on day one.
