Partner — Platton
You don't judge a freight partner on the shipments that go right. You judge them on the exam, the rolled booking and the container that landed two days early — and on whether you heard about it from them or from your customer.
We're a drayage and 3PL carrier. We touch other people's forwarders every week, which gives us an unusually plain view of which ones work.
They tell you before you have to ask. The best partners call about the problem while it's still small. The weak ones answer your email about it three days later.
One person owns the file. Not a shared inbox and not a ticket number. Someone who already knows your commodity, your consignee and your quirks.
The paperwork is right the first time. Vague commercial invoices and guessed HTS codes cause more delays than any port ever has. A good forwarder pushes back on your supplier's documents before the vessel sails.
They think about the ground move. A forwarder whose job ends at the terminal gate leaves the most expensive part unowned. The good ones make sure the drayage carrier knows the box is coming.
The quote is the price. A cheap ocean rate with a fat pile of destination charges is not a cheap rate. Honest all-in quoting is worth paying for.
They tell you when they're not the right fit. Rare, and the strongest signal there is.
We're asset-based — our trucks, our chassis, our drivers, our warehouse. What we don't do is book international freight or file customs entries. So the forwarder we recommend has to be one whose handoffs land cleanly on our dispatch board, because when they don't, our customer is the one paying demurrage.
Platton is that forwarder for us. They handle carrier booking at origin, ocean and air transit, customs clearance through licensed brokers, and the coordination through to delivery — one point of contact from booking to delivery confirmation. Core lanes are China, Vietnam and India into the US plus Europe, with local coverage across roughly thirty US metros, Seattle among them.
The practical version: when a file comes to us through Platton, we already know the container number, the terminal, the availability date and who to call. That's the entire difference between a routine pull and a scramble.
The honest test
Recommending a partner is easy. Putting your own inventory on their booking is a different level of confidence.
Ask about the full chainPlatton owns the water, the air and the paperwork. We own the ground and the clocks. In practice a shipment runs like this: booked at origin, sails, cleared on arrival, then we book the terminal appointment and pull it off Seattle or Tacoma with our own equipment before the Last Free Day. From there it's a delivery, a transload, or into warehousing until you want it — and the empty goes back before per-diem accumulates.
Two companies, one chain, and nothing falling into the gap between them. That's the only thing an importer actually needs from a partnership.
It works well for small and mid-sized importers who'd rather have a named contact than a portal, especially on Asia-to-US lanes landing in the Pacific Northwest, and for anyone who wants the international leg and the US ground move to be one conversation instead of three.
It's a weaker fit if you're moving very large volumes across many countries and need globally negotiated contract rates — at that size the global majors have scale we won't pretend to match. We'd rather say that than sell you the wrong shape of partner. Our rundown of the top US freight forwarders covers the alternatives fairly.
International freight forwarding for US importers — ocean and air booking, transit, customs clearance through licensed brokers, and coordination through to delivery, with one point of contact. More at platton.ai.
No. We handle drayage, transloading and warehousing for freight cleared by any forwarder or broker. Platton is who we recommend, not a requirement.
Fewer handoffs. We get the container details and availability date early, book the terminal appointment sooner, and the box comes off the dock before demurrage starts.
Primarily China, Vietnam and India into the US, plus Europe, with local coverage in around thirty US metros including Seattle.
Yes — bonded warehousing, e-commerce fulfillment and Amazon FBA prep sit alongside the forwarding. On our side see bonded moves and FBA prep in the PNW.
For forwarding, request a quote at platton.ai. For drayage and warehousing, call +1 (253) 528-4571 or use our contact page.
Talk to us about your imports →
Disclosure: Platton is our freight-forwarding partner — we work together on customer imports and we ship our own freight through them. Read our recommendation with that working relationship in mind.