Diving Deeper with
Pilotfisch Solutions, Inc.
We are a Licensed U.S.
Customs House Brokerage
We specialize in the "U.S. Customs business" to clear your goods through U.S. Customs.
We focus on importer prep, your import filings, and the logistics support up to your finish line.
Separate from freight forwarders, who sniff out deals and book the international freighting;
we accelerate your freight through your chosen logistics scheme, maximizing success.
This is a school of pilot fish
swimming with an oceanic white tip shark.
Image Credit: By Johanlantz at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2066589
Our Mission
(3 Strategies)
Guide importers through successful and compliant shipments, eliminating parasites for mutual longevity.
01
Guide with competence to produce success through importer confidence.
02
Ensure compliance and eliminate parasitic trade actors or behaviors.
03
Promote mutual long-term health and growth, incrementally through each import shipment.
Our Method and Vision of Success
Essentially, we want to preserve your money so your savings overfund our services.
You and your international trades are the centerpiece of the story, and we think that most folks in the supply chain have twisted that relationship into a predatory or parasitic situation. They operate on an eat-or-be-eaten mentality, leveraging their involvement for the opportune moment to collect their pound of flesh. They seem to forget that they'd starve without you, and they forget about you and your shipment moments after their opportunity passes.
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We at Pilotfisch choose a different method and mindset for success - collaboration instead of competition. Instead of exploiting your moments of vulnerability, we want to bolster your resilience, stymie your losses, and make ourselves valuable enough that our cost is far exceeded by your import savings and behavioral benefits. We view success as an enduring characteristic rather than an opportunistic condition, and our success is something to be shared rather than taken. It's difficult to support importations from the entry filing alone, so we've extended our focus beyond the traditional broker's scope and leveraged our authority to align with your experiential needs.
You get to choose who helps you, and we hope you let us contribute!
So What are Pilot Fish?
Below are two more pilot fish
swimming with a giant devil ray.
Image Credit: By sarahfaulwetter at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mobula_mobular_with_Naucrates_ductor.jpg
Pilot fish are carnivorous fish that form symbiotically mutual relationships with another host animal so that both share and enjoy benefits with each other for mutual gain. Pilot fish will usually form a bond with sharks, rays, whales, turtles, and other animals larger than themselves, but will even form bonds with the hull of ships. They work in tandem with their host to free them from external parasites and harmful food wastage, being well known for swimming into the jaws of their host, especially with sharks to clean their teeth. They know their counterpart values their help more than just as a meal!
Eventually as their relationship grows, the pilot fish learn to precede their host and orient themselves based on the nuanced changes behind them. Their symbiotic partnership allows pilot fish to thrive far beyond the safety of the reef with the protection and nourishment of their host. In return, the host is cleaned and parasite free, living stronger and healthier than their otherwise lonely competitors. It has even been documented that pilot fish will show signs of stress when something happens to their partner!
It was seafaring people who noticed these fish forming relationships with their ships and forming shoals ahead of their bow, as if piloting their voyage safely from port to port. Pilot fish are even featured in Ancient Greek mythology after a sailor guided a nymph, and the Acadians attributed pilot fish as sacred to Poseidon.
So Why the Name:
"Pilotfisch Solutions, Inc."?
The Animal, The Myth, The Legendary Brokerage..
We wanted a name to equally refer to one or all of us.
Pilotfisch
"Pilotfisch" comes from the mutualist nature of the pilot fish, who take the niche positioning into the global ecosystem and leverage service to unlock greater opportunities than either's ability and status would otherwise accommodate.
We build long-term relationships with the intent of mutual benefit, and we too eliminate parasitic actors and habits, albeit from our niche within the international supply chain. Pilotfisch can indeed guide shipments while leading proactively. We orient ourselves on our partner, but we also know exactly where we are headed! Our business is to lead our importer hosts securely through global trading environments with guidance and care, ensuring healthy behavior for mutual long-term benefits. We are emotionally invested in you, and we make the effort to understand your business and needs.
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Solutions
"Solutions" comes from the need for problem-solving in an apathetic freighting environment. So few intermediaries are bothered to care about shipments beyond their own charges, with fewer still capable of thinking beyond their own function. We are well versed, yet curious to learn; educating ourselves on a perpetual basis to competently approach situations and produce viable tactics or strategies on guidance.
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Domestic trade is already complex, and international trade is substantially more so. The transition is significant, and the regulations are written so that you [the importer] are responsible to know every rule and nuance about your shipment's compliance; especially the unknown unknowns! Although we are not customs attorneys nor federal agency specialists, our expertise regularly overlaps as we satisfy those operational concerns. We share our competence and valuable insights to inform your decisions, identifying when you should engage a specialist's or lawyer's help. We will not shy away from sharing news of hard truth, including when we don't know the answer. In those cases, we discount our consulting rate to a research rate. We build up both of our knowledge so that you are prepared for more productive conversations with those specialists at less overall cost per time.
We craft and communicate solutions. Federal regulation is ever-changing, and we usually see the partnering governmental agencies' (PGAs') requirements through a CBP import lens. Though Customs brokerage is a complicated component, it isn't the only factor in your importation formula. We apply our physics mentality to identify rules and pathways that fit, fix, resolve, or prepare you against any concern or trade threat which would otherwise drag down your freight's momentum. There will also be times when a critical failure or issue is discovered after shipping began. Sometimes the best fit solution may be to turn your momentum back to start, tinker-a-bit and try again. There are some risks that will always be exposed, but that doesn't mean we can't prepare countermeasures and avoidance tactics. Your best-fit solution will be what ensures compliance while shifting uncertainty toward understanding and risk exposure to optimized accommodation.
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Inc
"Inc." comes from our incorporation (in the state of Arizona) but also our intent to create a company philosophy and corporate structure which empowers our team members to grow and converge their individual proficiency into institutional knowledge and skills. As a licensed U.S. Customs House Brokerage, we streamline the importation process and ensure compliance with regulation, duties and taxes. As a licensed FMCSA Property Brokerage, we steward shipments, as required or per your preference, for safe and timely arrival where your goods are needed. As a Logistics Management Firm, we triangulate and facilitate the shipment's payments and progress to optimize your comfort and control. We are a sum of excellent parts, but individual parts wear out, circumstances change, and we want to support our relationships without compromising our continuity of service or capacity to support you!