A CBP-bonded warehouse lets you hold imported goods without paying duty until you withdraw them — and never pay it at all on anything you re-export. This calculator separates the three savings that get conflated in every sales pitch, so you can see which one is actually driving your number and whether the bonded premium is worth paying.
Why this matters more in 2026. The Section 122 surcharge lapsed at 12:01 a.m. on 24 July 2026 and new Section 301 forced-labor duties of 10% or 12.5% took effect the same morning across roughly 60 trading partners, cumulative with existing duties and with AD/CVD. Goods already subject to Section 232 — steel, aluminum, copper, vehicles and parts, wood products, semiconductors — are carved out. Higher stacked rates make the duty cheque at the border bigger, which makes every month of deferral worth more, and makes withdrawal timing a live decision rather than a formality.
Duty on warehoused goods is assessed at the rate in effect on the date of withdrawal for consumption, not the date of importation. That cuts both ways. If a rate falls while your cargo sits — an expiring action, a successful court challenge, an exclusion — you withdraw at the lower rate and the deferral was worth far more than the carrying cost above. If a rate rises, you pay the higher one. In a year where layers have been added and removed repeatedly, treat the number above as the floor of a range, not a point estimate. Re-export duty savings are the only part of this that is rate-proof.
Cate Freight is a licensed U.S. freight forwarder with 30+ years of import operations experience, working alongside CBP-bonded warehouse partners at the Port of Charleston. Talk through withdrawal timing, partial-lot planning, and whether bonding or an FTZ fits your entry profile.
Get a Free Quote →Free, no-obligation. Reply within 24 hours.Bonded warehouse pitches usually quote the biggest available number — the full duty bill — as if it were money saved. It is not. Only one of these three is money you keep permanently.
Anything re-exported directly from bond never enters U.S. commerce, so duty and MPF are never assessed. Not refunded later — never paid. For importers who split a lot between domestic and foreign customers, this line alone usually dwarfs everything else on the page.
Duty you do not pay until withdrawal is duty that stays in your business. Value it at whatever that cash would otherwise earn or cost — a revolver rate, a factoring rate, or your internal hurdle rate. This is a real, bankable saving, but it is a percentage of a percentage, so it is smaller than importers expect.
The full duty plus MPF not handed to CBP on arrival day. This is not profit — you will pay most of it eventually — but for a seasonal importer clearing a large pre-season buy, it can be the difference between financing the container and not.
Duty deferral means legally postponing payment of import duty. When goods are admitted to a CBP-bonded warehouse under 19 CFR 19, no duty, tax, or Merchandise Processing Fee is assessed at arrival. Duty becomes payable only when the goods are withdrawn for consumption into U.S. commerce — which can be up to five years after the date of importation. If the goods are re-exported directly from the bonded warehouse instead, the duty is never assessed at all.
There are three separate savings, and they are very different sizes. Duty permanently avoided on any re-exported portion is 100% of the duty on that share — the largest number for most importers who do it. Carrying cost saved on deferred duty is the duty amount multiplied by your cost of capital and the deferral period, so $100,000 of duty deferred six months at a 12% cost of capital saves about $6,000. Cash freed at the border is the full duty plus MPF you do not hand CBP on day one — a working capital benefit rather than a profit-and-loss saving.
The rate in effect on the date of withdrawal for consumption, not the rate in effect when the goods were imported. This is the single most important mechanic of bonded storage and it cuts both ways. If a tariff layer expires or is struck down while your cargo sits, you withdraw at the lower rate. If new layers are added, you pay the higher rate. In 2026, with Section 122 having expired on 24 July and new Section 301 forced-labor duties of 10% to 12.5% taking its place the same day, this timing exposure has been unusually large in both directions.
Up to five years from the date of importation under 19 CFR 19. Goods can be withdrawn in partial lots at any point during that window, and duty is assessed only on the quantity actually withdrawn. Goods not withdrawn within five years are considered abandoned and may be sold by CBP.
They solve overlapping but different problems. A bonded warehouse is simpler to use, has no zone application process, and is ideal for straight storage, deferral, and re-export. An FTZ allows manufacturing and substantial transformation inside the zone, permits weekly entry filing that can dramatically reduce Merchandise Processing Fee totals for high-entry-count importers, and allows inverted-tariff relief where the finished good carries a lower rate than its components. If you are only storing, deferring, and re-exporting, a bonded warehouse is usually the lighter-weight answer.
No. Goods re-exported directly from a CBP-bonded warehouse without entering U.S. commerce never incur duty or Merchandise Processing Fee, because they are never entered for consumption. This is different from duty drawback, where duty is paid first and then refunded — drawback requires filing, documentation, and a wait. Re-export from bond avoids the outlay entirely, which is why importers who split lots between U.S. sale and foreign sale often see the strongest case for bonding.
C&C Warehouse is a CBP-bonded and General Order facility minutes from the Port of Charleston — bonded storage and duty deferral, container devanning, transload and cross-dock, overweight reworking, and drayage coordination. Tell us your commodity and withdrawal timeline and the operator replies within one business day with real per-pallet numbers.
C&C Warehouse is operated by FreightFigures' publisher. candcwarehouse.com
Our partner network includes U.S. Customs Bonded warehouses, climate-controlled facilities, and full-service 3PLs across the Southeast.