Your container is at a port. We file there.

Because that is what the national permit is. A customs broker's license is federal, and a broker holding the national permit may conduct customs business in any district. Entries are transmitted electronically through ACE, so nothing is walked to a counter. The old district-by-district permit system is the reason people still expect otherwise.

Not by default, and it is worth being specific about why. What actually helps is knowing the terminal, the examination station and the partner agency staff at that port, which is experience rather than geography. Ask any broker how many entries they filed at your port last month. That answer tells you more than an address does.

It is the four digit number CBP assigns each port of entry in Schedule D. The first two digits are the district and the last two identify the port. It appears on your entry, which makes it the one detail on a page like this that you can check against a government document rather than take on trust. Ours come from CBP's own February 2026 Schedule D.

Yes. CBP lists 522 ports of entry and we file under one national permit, so the list below is the ports worth writing a page about, not the limit of where we file. Call with the port and the bill of lading and we will tell you the same day how clearance runs there.

No, and usually the opposite. The clock that matters is the terminal's free time, not the broker's postcode, and an entry filed early is the cheapest way to protect it. We can file up to five days before arrival from any desk.