Novi, Michigan, U.S.A.-based warehousing and logistics provider Lineage said its expertise in bonded storage has prepared the company to support the seafood industry during this period of uncertainty, which has been driven by rapidly changing tariffs and food safety requirements.
Bonded warehouses allow their customers to store goods under customs supervision, thus avoiding paying duties and taxes till the product leaves the warehouse for domestic sale. These warehouses have long been used in markets where customs quotas raise tariffs on imports of certain products, like beef, after the quota has been met. It is customary for importers in such markets to hold their products in bonded cold-storage in order to avoid excessive tariffs, or simply to manage cash flow during challenging moments.
“If goods don’t end up being sold in the US, products can be re-exported without paying import duties if they were stored in a bonded warehouse,” Lingeage Export and Import Services Director Jason King told SeafoodSource at 2025 Seafood Expo North America (SENA), held 15-18 March in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Lineage Import and Export Manager Stephanie Ansardi said this could be especially useful for seafood importers.
“If a seafood importer has [a] product that is subject to tariffs, regardless of import quotas, they could leverage bonded warehouse space to maintain a strategic supply of their product in the U.S. for deployment to the market as needed,” she explained.
“This could … help them manage costs,” Ansardi said, or improve flexibility, since “the importer can make partial withdrawals of this product to meet customer demand.”
Complicating matters are the new requirements in the Food Safety Modernization Act, although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced that it would roll back compliance requirements on its new Food Traceability Rule to 2028. That rule will require companies to maintain traceability documentation on all food products in their possession.
“Bigger retailers have already said that they’re going to commit to full traceability, not just in the 16 categories [that the FDA mandated], but for everything that is coming through their doors,” RAM Communications Managing Director Ron Margulis told SeafoodSource.
Lineage, he said, offers comprehensive support in the traceability process, so that both the FDA and retailers can have real time information to track their products. In the case of a recall, he said, this means that Lineage can “surgically recall” just the parts of a given lot that are affected, without compromising the rest of the shipment.
Lineage Vice President of Regional Sales Michael Bowman added that Lineage can work to integrate a company’s traceability platform with its ownor provide complete end-to-end solutions.
“If they’re looking for us to develop a solution, that’s something we can certainly take a look at,” Bowman said, noting that Lineage can help companies navigate different layers of complexity.
Bowman told SeafoodSource that Lineage was adding more bonded warehouse space to its offerings, and that “we have the flexibility to increase that space if we need to.”
“Lineage started in 2008 and we’ve grown to 480 facilities. We grow by listening to our customers. We’re here for them. We know it’s volatile,” said Bowman.
King said that Lineage’s bonded cold-storage facilities could move merchandise quickly to market. Though he said multiple factors were at play in these situations, the company could usually release storage within hours to days of a request, which involves filing an entry, paying duties on the product, and sending documentation of such to the warehouse.
Asked what advice he would give to companies trying to navigate shifting tariffs, Bowman said that open communication with trusted partners was the best strategy.
“I think the biggest thing that they can do is to communicate with us [about] their challenges,” Bowman said “We’ll find a way. We’re here. We didn’t get to this point without [our customers], and we’re certainly going to get through it with them, the best way that we possibly can.”
