Samuel Shapiro & Company, Inc.

What Samuel Shapiro & Company, Inc. does

Samuel Shapiro & Company, Inc. is a Baltimore-based, family-owned customs brokerage and international freight forwarder founded in 1915, providing import/export compliance and supply chain services to U.S. importers, exporters, e-commerce sellers, and multinational enterprises. Its core offerings span customs brokerage, tariff and regulatory compliance consulting, customs bonds, cargo insurance, and multimodal transportation (ocean FCL/LCL, airfreight, and domestic trucking/rail), supported by an in-house software portfolio anchored by the Shapiro 360° platform and complementary modules including the Classification Advisory Module (CAM), P.O. Management Plus (POM+), GlobalFlex™ agent network, and a centralized Booking Management system. The business employs 101–250 staff, approximately one-third of whom are licensed U.S. Customs brokers, and has held C-TPAT certification continuously since 2003.

The company's revenue model is built on transaction and professional service fees: freight forwarding generates transaction-based revenue from arranging ocean, air, and domestic transportation; customs brokerage and regulatory compliance consulting generate professional service fees for entry filing, HTS classification, tariff engineering, duty drawback, and PGA navigation; customs bond facilitation and cargo insurance placement produce affiliate/referral-style commissions. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is delivered through a consultative, sales-led motion with dedicated account management, supplemented by a content-driven top-of-funnel engine (Shap Blog, Shap Flash Alerts, webinars, white papers, and a dedicated tariff news portal). The firm claims a global operating footprint covering the U.S., China, Japan, and Europe, though outside-the-U.S. coverage is delivered through the GlobalFlex™ 3PL agent network rather than owned offices.

The technology architecture is a platform-plus-modules model: Shapiro 360° functions as the visibility and reporting hub, configurable per customer with exception tolerances and dashboards, while CAM, POM+, and Booking Management layer on top for classification, purchase order, and booking workflows. Shapiro 360° is described as built and maintained in-house, which is notable for a firm of this size and supports a stated switching cost around customer-specific configuration. Distribution is exclusively direct—no resellers or third-party channels are used—and customer acquisition is supported by extensive regulatory content marketing. The company is privately held, has remained family-owned across generations, has no disclosed outside funding, and shows no recorded M&A activity in the available data.

Name

Samuel Shapiro & Company, Inc.

Legal name

Samuel Shapiro & Company, Inc.

Website

https://shapiro.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1915

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Samuel Shapiro & Company is a 109-year-old, family-owned Baltimore-based customs brokerage and freight forwarder that provides trade compliance, tariff consulting, customs bonds, cargo insurance, and multimodal transportation to U.S. importers, exporters, e-commerce sellers, and multinational enterprises via its proprietary Shapiro 360° platform and supporting modules.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Customs Brokerage and Freight Forwarding

NAICS

Freight Transportation Arrangement (488510), Freight Transportation Arrangement (48851)

SIC

Arrangement Of Transportation Of Freight & Cargo (4731), Deep Sea Foreign Transportation Of Freight (4412)

akta.pro primary industry

Customs Consulting & Brokerage Outsourcing (Managed Brokerage, Brokerage Operations) (TLACAFAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Customs Brokerage for Ocean Shipments (Import/Export Clearance) (TLACABAG), FCL (Full Container Load) Ocean Forwarding (TLACABAA), Ocean Freight Brokerage (FCL/LCL) (TLADAMAF), Customs & Regulatory Filing Documentation (Entry/Exit Summaries, Declarations, ENS/AMS/ACI) (TLACAHAE), Export/Import Documentation Preparation (Commercial Invoice, Packing List, Shipper’s Letter of Instruction) (TLACAHAD)

Keywords

• Customs brokerage services
• International freight forwarding
• Trade compliance consulting
• Ocean air freight
• Supply chain logistics

Headquarters

HQ city

Baltimore

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Freight Forwarding Services: Arrangement and tracking of international transportation of goods including ocean FCL/LCL, airfreight, and domestic freight. Services include negotiating shipping fees, booking cargo space, and arranging multimodal transportation.
2. Customs Brokerage: Regulatory clearance of shipments across international borders including customs entries, classifications, ISF filings, and PGA compliance. Revenue generated through service fees for customs documentation and clearance services.
3. Regulatory Compliance Consulting: Advisory services including tariff consulting, classification reviews, duty drawback recovery, C-TPAT consulting, and admissibility appraisals. Professional consulting fees for helping importers navigate complex trade regulations.
4. Customs Bonds: Assistance in securing various types of customs bonds including import bonds, ISF bonds, and FTZ operator bonds. The company facilitates bond procurement through third-party providers.
5. Cargo Insurance: Insurance advisory and placement services to protect shipments against loss, damage, and General Average claims. Commission-based revenue from insurance placements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Samuel Shapiro & Company is a customs broker and freight forwarder that arranges international transportation of goods (ocean FCL/LCL, airfreight, domestic freight) and provides regulatory clearance, tariff consulting, customs bond procurement, cargo insurance, and supply chain visibility through its proprietary Shapiro 360° platform. The firm serves importers and exporters with compliance expertise and licensed customs brokerage, supplemented by technology modules for booking management, vendor management, and product classification.

Product overview

Samuel Shapiro & Company, Inc. operates as a logistics and supply chain management company founded in 1915, offering a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on the Shapiro 360° technology platform. The core offering comprises Customs Brokerage and Trade Compliance services (customs clearance, tariff consulting, regulatory compliance, customs bonds, cargo insurance, and the Classification Advisory Module), supplemented by Transportation services (ocean freight, airfreight, and domestic freight/rail trucking). The Shapiro 360° platform serves as the hub, integrating Freight Forwarding, Booking Management, GlobalFlex™ (multi-national 3PL network), and P.O. Management Plus (POM+) for end-to-end purchase order visibility. The company has been C-TPAT certified since 2003.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Shapiro 360°: Technology platform providing 24/7 shipment tracking with full supply chain visibility and real-time exceptions and alerts.
• GlobalFlex™
• P.O. Management Plus (POM+)
• Classification Advisory Module (CAM)

Products and services

• Shapiro 360°

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced customs penalties through reasonable care compliance
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Avalon Risk ManagementminorOthersThird-party provider of Customs Bond Application and Indemnity forms. Avalon Risk Management provides the bond application forms used when customers apply for customs bonds through Shapiro.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Seko Logistics: Mid-sized global freight forwarder with strong e-commerce, FBA, and ocean-air forwarding practices. Comparable scale, customer types, and technology-enabled forwarding proposition to Shapiro.
• Livingston International: North America's largest pure-play customs broker and freight forwarder, headquartered in Canada with significant U.S. operations. Closely mirrors Shapiro's customs-compliance-led, asset-light model and customer mix of mid-market and enterprise importers.
• Crane Worldwide Logistics: Mid-sized global freight forwarder with customs brokerage and supply-chain services. Comparable in size and offering mix to Shapiro, with similar enterprise and mid-market customer focus.

Broad incumbents

• C.H. Robinson: One of the largest North American freight brokers and 3PLs with Global Forwarding division covering ocean, air, and customs brokerage. Competes for the same enterprise shippers, but with substantially greater scale and service breadth.
• DHL Global Forwarding: Division of Deutsche Post DHL Group covering ocean, air, customs, and supply-chain services. Competes for multinational shipper RFPs, with customs brokerage as a key capability.
• UPS Supply Chain Solutions: Logistics arm of UPS providing freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and contract logistics. A scaled incumbent that competes with Shapiro on enterprise customs and forwarding programs.
• Expeditors International: Global asset-light freight forwarder with customs brokerage capabilities across all major modes. A benchmark incumbent whose technology investments and global network set the bar for mid-sized specialists like Shapiro.
• Kuehne+Nagel: One of the world's largest sea- and air-freight forwarders with integrated customs and contract logistics. Competes with Shapiro for enterprise customs and forwarding business at much larger scale.
• FedEx Logistics (formerly FedEx Trade Networks): Asset-owning incumbent offering international air/ocean forwarding, customs brokerage, and trade services. Overlaps with Shapiro on brokerage and forwarding for U.S. importers.

Emerging players

• Flexport: Digital-first freight forwarder automating ocean, air, and customs workflows with a tech platform approach. Represents the technology-led competitive threat to traditional mid-sized brokers like Shapiro on standard freight flows.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/shapiroco
• Facebookfacebook.com/shapiroco

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Samuel Shapiro & Company, Inc.