Automotive & Ground Transportation Capabilities
Vehicles, parts, tires, trailers, and heavy transportation equipment don’t exactly travel light. Add oversized dimensions, high-value components, tight production schedules, and complex import requirements, and you’ve got a supply chain that demands more than a standard freight solution.
- Automotive & Parts HTS Classification – From engines and transmissions to tires, electrical components, and replacement parts, automotive products can involve complex classification requirements. Our customs experts help ensure your goods are properly classified and that you're not paying more duty than necessary.
- Heavy & Oversized Freight Forwarding – Cars, trucks, trailers, heavy equipment, and large automotive components require more planning than simply booking a container. We coordinate ocean, air, and ground transportation with the specialized equipment, routing, drayage, and delivery requirements your cargo demands.
- Time-Critical Automotive Logistics – When a missing part can bring a production line to a standstill, timing matters. We help coordinate expedited airfreight, ocean freight, domestic transportation, and other solutions to keep critical parts and components moving.
- End-to-End Supply Chain Visibility – Automotive supply chains can involve hundreds of suppliers, multiple countries, and several modes of transportation. With Shapiro 360°, you can track shipments, monitor customs activity, analyze freight performance, and gain greater visibility across your supply chain.
Heavy Freight? We've Got It Handled.
Automotive freight isn’t always easy to move. Oversized trailers, vehicles, engines, tires, machinery, and other heavy components require careful planning from the factory floor to the final destination.
At Shapiro, we coordinate the logistics behind the load—including ocean freight, airfreight, drayage, domestic transportation, customs clearance, and final delivery. We work with our global network to determine the right transportation strategy based on your cargo’s dimensions, weight, origin, destination, timing, and budget.
Whether you’re importing finished vehicles, bringing in replacement parts, or moving oversized transportation equipment, we help manage the details that can make or break a shipment.
And with Shapiro 360°, you’ll have visibility into your shipments from origin through delivery, helping you identify delays, monitor milestones, and keep your supply chain moving.
Automotive Tariffs, HTS Codes & Customs Compliance
When you’re importing automotive products, getting the classification right is critical. A single HTS code can impact your duty rate, eligibility for trade programs, and exposure to additional tariffs.
Our customs brokerage and compliance team helps automotive importers navigate:
- Vehicles and automotive parts – Different vehicles, components, and parts can fall under highly specific HTS classifications depending on their characteristics, composition, and intended use.
- Tires and rubber products – Tires can involve specific classification and country-of-origin considerations that affect the total landed cost.
- Engines, motors, and mechanical components – Automotive machinery and components can require detailed classification analysis to determine the appropriate HTS code.
- Trailers and transportation equipment – Large equipment often requires coordination between customs, freight forwarding, drayage, and specialized inland transportation.
- Additional tariffs and trade measures – Automotive products and their components may be subject to additional duties depending on classification, country of origin, and applicable trade actions.
- Duty optimization – Depending on the product and circumstances, strategies such as First Sale, tariff engineering, free trade agreements, duty drawback, and other programs may help reduce or recover qualifying duties.
The result? Fewer surprises at the border, better visibility into your landed costs, and a supply chain that’s built to keep moving.
From the Factory Floor to the Final Mile
Automotive and ground transportation companies can’t afford to treat logistics as an afterthought. A delayed component can disrupt production. A misclassified part can increase landed costs. And an oversized shipment without proper planning can create delays long before it reaches its destination.
That’s why Shapiro brings freight forwarding, customs brokerage, trade compliance, domestic transportation, and supply chain technology together under one roof.
Whether you’re moving a container of automotive parts, importing a fleet of vehicles, shipping tires to a distribution center, or coordinating oversized trailers and equipment, we’ll help you navigate the logistics from start to finish.
Looking for help with imports into the U.S.?
Check out our Services page to see which of our services can help you get your products into the U.S.