A manufacturer in China produces the drills.
The drills are moved from the factory to a freight forwarder’s warehouse where they are loaded into a shipping container. The freight forwarder files the paperwork to obtain export clearance.
The container full of drills is loaded onto a cargo ship. The ship may stop at several Asian ports to load more containers before it crosses the Pacific and it may stop at several North American ports to unload containers or pick up containers for export before it unloads the container with the drills.
A crane unloads the container from the ship and places it on a drayage truck which takes it to a sorting yard. Here specialized equipment lifts it onto a train carriage or truck.
The importer files entry documents and pays tariffs and fees. The container may be inspected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or the Food and Drug Administration if it contains food or medical products, or the Department of Agriculture if wood and agricultural goods are involved.
Once cleared the container will sit on the train until the train is fully loaded and then it is transported to an inland warehouse for storage, or more commonly a fulfillment center for distribution. Here the container full of drills will be opened and sorted to send out to a variety of hardware stores, or in some cases directly to the customer.
Once the cargo is unloaded the empty container has to be returned to a port or filled with goods for export. Because of our trade imbalance with Asian countries often 50 – 75% of the containers on a ship returning to Asia are empty.