What Is a Bonded Warehouse?
A bonded warehouse is a secured facility that is used for the storage of dutiable merchandise. When the bonded warehouse is a privately managed enterprise, a customs bond must be posted with the government. Once the goods have been placed in the warehouse, both the importer and the warehouse owner incur liability for the merchandise under that bond until the merchandise is:
- exported
- destroyed under Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) supervision
- withdrawn to an aircraft or vessel in international traffic
- withdrawn for domestic consumption after duty has been paid in full
During the time that the merchandise is in a bonded warehouse, with the supervision of (CBP), the items may be sorted cleaned, repacked. In the United States, merchandise may remain in a bonded warehouse for a maximum of five years commencing at the date of importation. Many 
bonded warehouses also provide additional services such as:
- bulk liquid storage
- deep freeze
- commodity processing
- coordination with transportation
- order fulfillment
- inventory management
Different Types of Bonded Warehouse
There are a number of different classes of bonded warehouse including:
- Government owned facilities
- Privately managed facilities
- Public bonded warehouses
- Bonded yards, stables or corrals
- Bonded grain storage
- Bonded warehouses for items made from imported materials
- Bonded warehouses for smelting or refining imported metal
- Bonded warehouses for sorting and repacking of imported material
- Bonded warehouses for selling duty-free merchandise
- Bonded warehouses for duty-free merchandise sold in a store or on an aircraft
- Bonded warehouses for the storage of merchandise not claimed or entered for 15 days after arrival in the U.S.
At Bonded Service we have been providing public warehousing and other services for more than half a century. As one of Atlanta’s first logistics companies, we are dedicated to offering cutting edge facilities and services. Contact us today to find out more about intermodal services.