Retail Ocean Freight Forwarder for Apparel and Consumer Goods
FCL and LCL ocean freight from Asia, LatAm, and Europe — paired with reverse logistics, FTZ pick & pack, rail, LTL, and parcel handoff. One NVOCC platform from origin port to your store, DC, or DTC customer.
Lanes we run for retail & apparel
Shanghai to Los Angeles in 18 days. Direct contracts on the corridors your cargo actually moves on.
Built for retail & apparel
Ocean FCL/LCL, reverse logistics, FTZ pick & pack, rail, LTL, parcel.
Ocean FCL and LCL
Direct carrier contracts on Asia, LatAm, and Europe to US lanes. 20′, 40′, and 40′ HC for FCL; weekly consolidation hubs for LCL. Peak-season allocation locked in March for August-on-shelf inventory.
Reverse logistics on ocean
Return-to-vendor containers, end-of-season pulls, and defective consolidations sent back to Asia or distributor hubs as scheduled backhaul. Most forwarders refuse retail returns. Gateway runs them as a programmed lane.
FTZ pick & pack
Foreign Trade Zone warehouses at every major US port. SKU-level pick, kitting, label-and-bag, and B2C order fulfillment. Duty deferred until release — only pay on what ships out.
Rail intermodal
Port-to-DC rail moves into the Midwest, Southeast, and Texas retail belts. Domestic rail bookings, chassis provisioning, and transload between ocean and rail handled in one platform.
LTL final mile
Less-than-truckload from regional DCs to retail stores. Multi-stop routing, store-receipt scheduling, and delivery confirmation pulled into the Gateway dashboard.
Parcel and courier handoff
DTC ecommerce parcel injection (UPS, FedEx, USPS), DDP parcel for international, and returns courier pickup. The retail last mile without bolting on five more vendors.
Run your retail & apparel POs from one screen
Product Sonar tracks the lifecycle of every PO — search by SKU, see stock counts, trace shipment status, and check duty exposure live.
- SearchFind any SKU in secondsSearch your full catalog by SKU, HS code, supplier, factory, or origin country. One bar, no spreadsheets.
- StockLive stock counts per SKUHow many you ordered, how many are on the water, how many landed. One number per SKU at a glance.
- TracePO lifecycle, end to endTrace every PO from cut to delivery. Container, vessel, customs, FTZ, final-mile — every stage timestamped.
- DutiesLive duty exposureMFN, Section 301, AD/CVD per SKU. See landed cost before the container leaves origin.
- SearchFind any SKU in secondsSearch your full catalog by SKU, HS code, supplier, factory, or origin country. One bar, no spreadsheets.
- StockLive stock counts per SKUHow many you ordered, how many are on the water, how many landed. One number per SKU at a glance.
- TracePO lifecycle, end to endTrace every PO from cut to delivery. Container, vessel, customs, FTZ, final-mile — every stage timestamped.
- DutiesLive duty exposureMFN, Section 301, AD/CVD per SKU. See landed cost before the container leaves origin.
Retail reverse logistics on ocean
Most ocean forwarders refuse retail returns. The volume is unpredictable, the cargo is mixed, and the documentation is harder than a forward shipment. So retailers ship returns one-way air or eat the inventory loss.
Gateway runs reverse logistics on ocean as scheduled backhaul. Return-to-vendor containers, end-of-season pulls, and defective consolidations move back to Asia or distributor hubs on the same vessel relationships we use for inbound.
You see every return container in the same Gateway dashboard as your inbound freight. No second forwarder. No separate invoice. No “we don’t handle that” phone calls when buying season ends.
Connect your stack — Gateway integrates
Plug Gateway into the tools you already run. POs, invoices, inventory, and freight stay in sync.
The difference on your freight
Ocean is our core, retail is our specialty
Gateway is an NVOCC. The ocean leg is the leg we contract directly with carriers. Pick & pack, rail, LTL, and parcel are extensions of the same platform — not subcontracted to five different brokers.
Reverse logistics built in, not bolted on
Returns, RTVs, and defective consolidations run as scheduled backhaul on the same Gateway booking. No second forwarder, no separate invoice.
One platform from port to store
app.gatewaylines.com shows your ocean container, the FTZ pick-pack queue, the rail or LTL leg, and the parcel handoff. One log-in. Same data your buyers and warehouse team see.
Common questions
What is a retail ocean freight forwarder?
Does Gateway handle reverse logistics for retail returns by ocean?
How does Gateway handle retail peak season capacity?
Ready to move retail & apparel with Gateway?
Get a rate in 24 hours or talk to a retail & apparel specialist about your next shipment.