Bonded warehouse

What is a bonded warehouse?

A customs bonded warehouse provides a secured place to store or manipulate dutiable goods and inventory without payment of assigned duty fees. Used for import and export goods, bonded warehouses are regulated by the customs agency in the country where they're located.

A bonded warehouse allows the owner of goods and inventory to defer payment of duties, tariffs or taxes until the goods are purchased. In a non-bonded warehouse, by contrast, importers are required to pay duty on received goods.

Importers can hold goods in a customs bonded warehouse until customs officials inspect them. Cargo in a non-bonded warehouse must be inspected immediately upon arrival at an international point of entry.

Customs bonded warehouses play an integral role in international trade, helping shippers import goods and keep them in global locations strategically close to customers. Bonded warehouses facilitate improvements in international supply chains and processes.

Related terms: bonded storage, bonded cargo, bonded goods and bonded shipments

These related terms describe different pieces of the bonded warehouse process:

• Bonded storage: another term for using a bonded warehouse

• Bonded cargo: a shipment with a foreign origin that requires charges like tariffs, duties, customs charges and/or penalties

• Bonded goods: goods on which customs duty still needs to be paid, requiring them to stay in customs-supervised warehouses until it is

• Bonded shipment: a shipment that passes through different countries before reaching its final destination, where customs clearance doesn't happen until that final destination

Types of bonded warehouses

Shippers can use different types of bonded warehouses to fit their needs in each situation. Types of bonded warehouses include:

• Public bonded warehouse: a guarded warehouse owned by the state or port authority that anyone can use to store goods

• Private bonded warehouse: a privately owned warehouse used to store the owner's goods, or goods the owner has allowed a client to store there

• Special bonded warehouse: used for goods that must be stored specially to remain fresh or safe, such as deep freezing or special storage of bulk liquids

Bonded warehouse regulations and requirements

Bonded warehouses are regulated, but the regulations vary by warehouse type, location and customs agency. In the United States, the warehouse proprietor takes on liability for stored goods through a warehouse bond, which is then canceled under various circumstances, such as exported goods.

In the United States, the warehouse proprietor physically supervises the goods, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) supervises the proprietor using an audit-inspection program, including determining the proprietor's responsibility for the goods.

The proprietor of a U.S. Customs bonded warehouse is expected to:

1. Keep records related to the goods that comply with regulations and laws

2. Support CBP audits to ensure this is being done

Why integrate ERP and transportation management in a bonded warehouse

It's beneficial for bonded warehouses to integrate enterprise resource planning (ERP) with transportation management system (TMS) technology, because ERPs tend to struggle with the complexity of transportation models and the challenges of modern supply chains. Integrating the two provides faster ROI, cost savings, better visibility and improved adoption.

Bonded warehouses can better keep up with the complexities of modern transportation and supply chains by integrating their ERP with a transportation management system (TMS). This integration creates increased visibility into the movement of bonded warehouse goods.