Customs Brokerage and Foreign Trade Zone Operators Across the United States
The U.S. Foreign Trade Zone program, administered by the Foreign-Trade Zones Board under the Department of Commerce and supervised by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, encompasses over 260 FTZ projects and nearly 400 subzones across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. These zones employ more than 500,000 American workers across approximately 1,200 active operations.
How FTZs Reduce Import Costs
Goods admitted into an FTZ are legally considered outside U.S. Customs territory. This means importers pay no duty until merchandise enters the domestic commerce stream. For goods that are re-exported, no duty is owed at all. Key cost-saving mechanisms include:
- Inverted Tariff Relief
- Manufacturers can import components at higher tariff rates and elect to pay the lower finished-product duty rate upon entry into U.S. commerce.
- Duty Deferral
- Goods can be stored in an FTZ indefinitely without triggering duty obligations, improving cash flow for importers.
- Duty Elimination on Exports
- No U.S. duty, Merchandise Processing Fee, Federal Excise Taxes, or Anti-Dumping Duties apply to goods re-exported from an FTZ.
The U.S. Customs Brokerage Landscape
There are approximately 14,000 individually licensed customs brokers operating within roughly 1,450 brokerage firms across the United States. The market is concentrated at the top—firms like UPS and FedEx together account for nearly 35% of the total market—while hundreds of smaller, specialized brokers serve niche industries and regional trade corridors.
Choosing a Broker with FTZ Expertise
Not every customs broker offers FTZ services. When evaluating providers, consider whether they offer end-to-end FTZ management (feasibility analysis, zone activation, compliance monitoring, and weekly entry filing) or only basic customs clearance. Firms like Expeditors maintain the largest proprietary FTZ network in the U.S., while others like UPS Zone Solutions provide full-service consulting from designation through ongoing administration.