A container earns fees for someone every hour it isn't empty: terminal demurrage, chassis detention, a driver waiting on a dock that isn't ready. ProShip3PL books the appointment before the box leaves PortMiami, unloads palletized or floor-loaded freight on arrival, counts cartons against your packing list as they come off, and turns the empty around fast. Twenty-five minutes of drayage, one scheduled window, and your import is staged inventory instead of a rolling bill.
Sellers plan imports around product and price, then discover the last mile is where the money leaks. The vessel docks, the terminal's free days start burning, and if nobody has a dock appointment lined up, the container waits — first at the port on demurrage, then on a trucker's chassis on detention. None of it improves the product; all of it lands on the invoice.
Our receiving operation is built backwards from those meters. The dock window gets confirmed with your drayage carrier while the box is still at sea or at the terminal. When it arrives — about 25 minutes from PortMiami, 35 from Port Everglades — the crew and the equipment for that specific load are already assigned: forklifts for a palletized box, a hand-unload team and empty pallets for a floor load.
Counting happens during the unload, not after it. Cartons tally against the packing list by SKU as they come off; crushed or wet boxes get photographed in place and pulled aside; pack quantities get sample-verified by opening cartons. By evening you hold a receiving report, the freight sits staged by SKU, and the empty is on its way back.
What happens next is a different subject: sourcing-side inspection for factory orders lives on our China-to-FBA page, and the racking economics of holding the balance live on the inventory storage page. This page is the dock itself.
| Running meter | How the dock answers it |
|---|---|
| Terminal demurrage | Appointment confirmed pre-arrival; the box drays out inside free days |
| Chassis detention | Unload on delivery and same-day empty release where schedules allow |
| Driver wait time | A confirmed window means the door is open when the truck backs in |
| Floor-load labor | Hand-unload crew and pallet build assigned before the container lands |
| Count uncertainty | Carton tally by SKU during unload, pack quantities sample-opened |
Dock windows confirmed directly with your drayage carrier, keyed to the container's availability at the terminal — not to hope.
Wall-to-wall loose cartons hand-unloaded onto pallets built at the dock — the labor-heavy format most Asian factories ship.
Forklift discharge of palletized boxes, pallet-level then carton-level counts, and straight into staging lanes.
Carton tally by SKU against the packing list during the unload, with sample cartons opened to confirm stated pack quantities.
Crushed, punctured or wet cartons photographed as found and segregated — the timestamped record a cargo claim stands on.
Freight staged by SKU the same day, then split on your call: FBA prep, reserve racking, or cross-dock onward — LCL handled the same way at smaller scale.
Container number, ETA and trucker contact in hand, the appointment locks before the box leaves the terminal.
Seal checked and recorded, load type verified, and the pre-assigned crew starts — forklifts or hand-unload line.
SKU-level carton tally against the packing list, sample cartons opened, damage photographed in position.
The container releases back to the trucker; you get the receiving report and the freight sits staged by SKU.
Call with the container number and the trucker's dispatch line. If a window exists this week, we'll find it and confirm it with the carrier directly — the meter stops at our door.
Floor loads are a staffing problem, not a mystery. We schedule the hand-unload crew against the carton count and build pallets at the dock — it's routine here because Asian freight mostly arrives this way.
Detention is usually the warehouse's fault. A confirmed window, a crew sized to the load and same-day empty release keep the chassis inside its free hours — and the surprise line items off your freight bill.
That's a stow failure, and it's claimable if documented fast. We photograph damage as the container empties, segregate the affected cartons, and hand you the evidence package while the claim window is open.
Send us the container number, ETA at port, and your drayage carrier's contact as soon as you have them — ideally while the vessel is still sailing. We confirm a dock window directly with the trucker, so the driver isn't circling Medley hoping someone answers. Containers 20 through 53 feet and LCL deliveries all book the same way, Monday to Friday.
Palletized containers come off by forklift — fast, and counts happen at pallet level first. Floor-loaded containers are stacked loose cartons wall to wall; every carton is handled by hand onto pallets we build at the dock. Floor loads take substantially longer and cost more labor, but they're the norm from Asian factories because they fit more cargo. Tell us which yours is when booking so the right crew is on the dock.
Those clocks are beaten with scheduling, not speed alone. Demurrage accrues while the box sits at the terminal; detention accrues while the trucker's chassis holds your container. We book the dock window before the container is even out of the port, unload on arrival rather than queuing it, and release the empty the same day where the schedule allows — so the equipment goes back inside the free days your forwarder negotiated.
Carton by carton against the packing list as the container empties — tallied by SKU marking, not eyeballed as a wall of boxes. Where cartons state unit counts, we verify by sampling: selected cartons are opened and hand-counted to confirm the stated pack quantity holds. The result is a receiving report your books can trust, produced the day of unload, with any shortage or overage flagged against the documents.
Both. LCL arrives from the deconsolidator as loose cartons or mixed pallets on a standard truck, usually days after the vessel docks because your freight shares the box with other importers. The receiving discipline is identical — counted against your packing list, condition checked, staged — the delivery is just smaller and its timing less predictable, so we hold your booking flexible around the deconsolidation warehouse's schedule.
Dry containers from 20 to 53 feet, palletized or floor-loaded, plus LCL deliveries and air freight coming off MIA. The dock works commercial trucking hours, Monday through Friday 9:00 to 18:00 EST, and drayage from PortMiami reaches us in about 25 minutes — Port Everglades runs about 35.
Damage is documented while the container is still being emptied: crushed or wet cartons photographed in position where possible, then segregated and opened to assess the units inside. You get the photo record the same day — timestamped against the unload — which is exactly the evidence a freight or cargo claim needs. Sound cartons keep moving to staging; the damaged stack waits for your decision.
Your freight forwarder's drayage carrier hauls the container; we coordinate the delivery window with them and work the dock side. We don't clear customs and we don't act as Importer of Record — the container should arrive cleared, which is why most sellers on this lane ship DDP. If your forwarder needs a warehouse contact for scheduling, that's us, and we're used to the calls.
Into staged pallet positions organized by SKU, so the container stops being a pile and becomes addressable inventory the same day. From staging, cartons split three ways on your instruction: straight into FBA prep, onto reserve racking for later replenishment, or cross-docked onward to another destination. A 40-footer rarely has one destiny — staging is where you choose.
Use the form: container size, floor-loaded or palletized, rough carton count, port of arrival and ETA. Within one business day you'll have per-container receiving pricing, dock booking instructions for your forwarder, and a plan for where the freight goes after count — prep, racking, or both. No setup fees, no monthly minimums.
Send the container size, load type, carton count and port ETA. Within one business day your forwarder has booking instructions and you have receiving pricing — before the free days start burning.
