The best customs brokers near the port
The best-rated customs brokers near the port, with what they handle.
What it does
Every quarter: customs brokers and freight forwarders within 10 km of the port, the best-rated first, each with what they likely handle by xMap AI, for an importer’s shortlist.
In one sentence: Monthly on the 1st at 08:00, in Los Angeles, find customs brokers and freight forwarding services in the area, write a summary of each with xMap AI, sort them by rating and keep the top 20, then add row in Google Sheets and email the list to you.
Why it is useful
Importers lose days with the wrong broker. A rated shortlist with each broker’s strengths makes the choice quick.
Who it is for
Ports, shipping & maritime. Port operators, ship agents, marine suppliers, terminals and marinas following vessels, weather and the business around the water. Every use case for ports & shipping
Best use cases
- An importer
- An e-commerce brand shipping by sea
- A trade consultancy
What each run gives you
- A Google Sheet
The time it saves
Monthly on the 1st at 08:00. Doing the same work by hand takes about 60 minutes each time; it runs about 1 time a month, so it saves about 1 hours a month (an estimate). It is medium: 7 blocks.
The flow, block by block
- On the 1st of every monthTrigger · ScheduleStarts the flow on a timetable.
- Around the portWhere · Area of interestSets where the flow looks: countries, cities or specific places, or areas you draw on a map.
- Brokers and forwardersxMap data · Nearby placesPlaces around a point from xMap’s own places database (300M+ places, refreshed every month): pick the types of place (more than 5,000, such as Restaurant, Cafe, Pharmacy, Hospital or Gas station, or a whole group of them) and how far to look.
- Describe each with xMap AIxMap AI · xMap LLMTell the AI what to do in plain words.
- Best 20 firstLogic · Sort and limitPuts the items in order, and can keep only the first ones: the 10 best rated, the 20 nearest, the highest fit scores.
- Add them to the shortlistApp · Google SheetsCreate, edit, and collaborate on spreadsheets online
- Email me the resultsAction · EmailSends one email per run with all the items, or one email per item.
Every block can be changed after you use the template: the city, the type of place, the score, where the results go.
Use it now
Answer a few questions, enter your work email, and it runs in your own account, kept running until you pause it. Use this template.
How to set it up
- Build your first flow in ten minutes: From a blank page to a flow that emails you a ranked list every morning.
- The xMap Flows browser extension: what is around this business: On a company’s website or a place on a map, one click shows its market and the AI employees to hire for it.
- What xMap remembers about your company: Your city, industry and what you sell, filled in for you and always yours to change.
- Ask the map a question: How many of a kind of place, how many people for each, and where the gaps are, answered on the spot.
- Geofencing: A virtual boundary that triggers something when an item enters or leaves it.
- AIS (ship tracking): Radio messages ships send with their identity, position and course.
- How to be alerted when ships enter a port area: A zone, a live AIS stream and an alert.
More for Ports, shipping & maritime
- New shipping companies and forwarders in the port city: New shipping firms and forwarders, scored as marine insurance clients.
- Hotels near the port for crew changes: The best hotels near the port, for crew changes.
- Shipyards for my coatings and paint sales: Shipyards graded as coatings buyers, with the purchasing manager.
- Ferry terminals with few fast chargers nearby: Ferry terminals with the fewest fast chargers nearby, every month.
- Ships crossing the strait, every day: Ships crossing a strait each day, by type, with a trade note.
- Ships waiting at anchor, for the berth planner: The queue at anchor every hour, by type, for the berth planner.