Ship to Shore: Mara Shipping Goes Anywhere

To have an item imported to, or exported from, the United States, it has to go through customs, a necessary government check that verifies its representation.  

Surprisingly few items are off limits for shipping out of, or to, United States borders— unless the items are a threat to national security. With proper licenses and documentation, nearly anything can be imported or exported. 

No one knows the customs and and international freight forwarding business better than Jim Mara, vice president of on Grove Street, which has successfully shipped a large variety of items to and from U.S. borders for more than 50 years. 

“We have shipped toothpicks, rocks, cars, even rockets, all with the guidelines of what U.S. customs border patrol allows,” he said. 

The exceptions, Mara said, are drugs, guns or radio frequency equipment—essentially anything that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms keeps under a watchful eye. 

“The strangest item ever shipped? A cadaver,” Mara said with a laugh. 

Mara is the second generation in his family to be a customs house broker and international freight forwarder. Mara Shipping was started by his father in the mid-1950s. 

The elder Mara worked for an Italian company that imported and exported fine art. He struck out on his own with his own office in New York in the early 1990s, and then moved to Newark to be close to customs at Newark Airport.

Technological changes later allowed a move to Bridgewater before the decade was over. 

“We started out importing refrigerators for a company and that company got bought out by Nestle, and then we started importing refrigerators for Nestle," Jim Mara said. "That is the way 90 percent of our business happens."

Mara said that, today, his major accounts are flavors and fragrances.  

The important service that Mara Shipping provides is the documentation and monitoring to ensure that items are shipped to or imported from their destinations on time and without incident. 

“We ensure that the documents are submitted properly and monitor them to make sure that everything is flowing," Mara said. "That is what came in that was offloaded, that documentation was submitted in a timely manner. You want to make sure you take all the proper steps so there are no penalties or fines.” 

And to do that, Mara has to ensure that what the customer submits on paper is what is in the shipment.

“We submit the documentation, then the government will analyze it and then they spot check it,” he said. “Every once in a while you will see in the papers where they found something crazy.” 

The other component of Mara Shipping is international freight forwarding. When a customer wants to send freight overseas, Mara Shipping will arrange for a vessel or a truck to get it to the destination. Mara does the same on the importing—arranging to pick up an item at a foreign country and work out all the details whether on a ship or a plane. 

“The client gives us proper documents and we make sure everything gets done right,” he said.