Practice areas > Container Freight Station Applications (CFS Applications)

Florida is internationally known for its trade facilities, especially the world-class Port of Miami-Dade, where an extremely high volume of cargo held in containers is loaded or unloaded to and from ships on a daily basis.

The number of Container Freight Stations found in Florida, such as those serving the ports of Miami-Dade, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Fort Lauderdale, is amazingly high and growing. Accordingly, Florida-based Fuerst Ittleman has extensive experience helping clients with their CFS issues, including CFS applications.

CFS Applications

Since most of the CFS unload cargo at the destination ports, they must be bonded under federal law. Qualifying as an authorized Container Freight Station is complex.

Applications to the appropriate U.S. authorities must include detailed information regarding the area set aside to hold the containers, as well as both the fire protection and security alarm systems in place for the CFS. Applicants must also provide such detailed information as an itemization of personnel working at the site (giving names and addresses), and current, criminal background checks for both the company and its employees.

The CFS application process can be time-consuming and frustrating. Fuerst Ittleman is particularly adept at assisting clientele through this application process, including negotiating the best bonding arrangements, as well as working with clients who have ongoing CFS concerns.

Daily CFS Concerns

The daily workings of a Container Freight Station can have an unrelenting number of legal and business issues erupt during the ordinary course of business that can cause delivery delays, harming distribution plans and detrimentally impact manufacturing schedules, as well.

Fuerst Ittleman stands ready to help CFS clients to solve these problems fast, because Fuerst Ittleman knows the importance of avoiding time delays when importing and exporting goods. Clearing freight efficiently, especially when faced with realities of port congestion, etc., can a make a big impact on the bottom line. Operating a Container Freight Station is a competitive business.

How is Fuerst Ittleman so experienced?

Fuerst Ittleman understands first-hand both the law that impacts CFS operations as well as its business realities. Not only does Fuerst Ittleman have personnel with significant customs and regulatory expertise, Fuerst Ittleman is located in one of the most CFS-prolific areas of the country.

Port of Tampa

For several years, the Port of Tampa has been actively pursuing service of the international container market. Historically, Tampa enjoys a longstanding reputation for being a regional container port. This past decade has seen its Executive Shippers Council actively pursuing a global steamship line clientele, particularly those carrying consumer goods from the Far East into the U.S.

In December 2007, Tampa announced a $40 million expansion of its container terminal between 2008 and 2013. In 2006, Tampa implemented a 10-year plan to increase its container terminal facilities in stages, and began investment in such fixed expenditures as container gantry cranes to support international container needs. Tampa’s expansion correlates with an ever-expanding need for CFS services to meet the increase in projected trade traffic.

Port of Miami-Dade, “the Cargo Gateway of the Americas”

The Port of Miami-Dade, however, remains the “Cargo Gateway of the Americas,” since it handles almost exclusively containerized cargo (along with some amounts of vehicles and industrial equipment). Miami-Dade is the largest container port in the State of Florida and the ninth largest container port in the United States.

Miami-Dade is a world-class port with six gantry crane wharves, twelve gantry cranes, seven Ro-Ro docks, four refrigerated container yards, most of which is operated by port tenants. The Port of Miami also offers two super post-panamax gantry cranes, which are able to load (or unload) 22 wide, mega-container ships. The number of Container Freight Stations serving this world-class, container-focused port is huge -- and growing.


Contact Fuerst Ittlemanfor CFS Help