At an ocean freight forwarder's import desk, you shepherd inbound ocean shipments — coordinating with overseas origin offices, ocean carriers, customs brokers, and US importers through the import cycle.
A typical week mixes shipment tracking, document handling, customs coordination, and customer support — receiving booking and document handoffs from origin offices, tracking shipments through transit, coordinating with customs brokers on entries, supporting US importers through inland transit and delivery. Cargo cleared and delivered on schedule, documentation quality, and customer satisfaction shape the visible measures.
The harder part is often the port-and-customs sequencing — vessel arrival, container discharge, customs release, chassis availability, and inland trucker pickup all interact in ways that produce dwell time and demurrage if anything stalls. Variance across employers is real: large global forwarders run with mature ocean-import operations; smaller forwarders concentrate the work on a smaller team.
The role tends to fit folks who enjoy global trade work, manage cross-time-zone communication patiently, and carry the document discipline that ocean import requires. CCS, Licensed Customs Broker eligibility, FIATA diploma anchor advancement. The trade-off is the always-on character of ocean import work and the customer-pressure absorption when delays cascade.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
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View all Admin & Office roles →At an ocean freight forwarder's import desk, you shepherd inbound ocean shipments — coordinating with overseas origin offices, ocean carriers, customs brokers, and US importers through the import cycle.
Median pay for an Ocean Import Coordinator is about $50K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $37K to $76K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Speaking, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, and Negotiation.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 8.5% through 2034, with roughly 97,800 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Import Coordinator, Import Agent, and Ocean Import Agent.
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