Quick! What would you do first if you were caught in an earthquake?

Well, if you were customs broker Susan Shih and you had just been shaken by Seattle's 6.8 magnitude earthquake, you'd do two things right away. First, you'd make sure your sons were OK at their schools. And then you'd get back to work and figure out what you could do to help keep international freight moving, even after the earthquake.

Susan Shih and her husband Mark Eiselt are customs brokers who own S.S. Shih Company in Seattle. They work with companies that import goods into the United States through Seattle.

What does that mean? Well, let's think for a minute about how complicated trade between two countries can be. As we've learned, each country has its own rules and regulations about goods that come from other countries. For goods coming into the United States, for instance, there are over 500 pages of Customs regulations and thousands of different tariffs or taxes.

A company shipping a load of toys or tennis shoes or computer monitors into Seattle might not know all these rules. And that could delay the shipment, because shipping companies such as APL can't release freight to their customers until the U.S. Customs Service clears it.

To keep freight moving, many companies that sell their products in other countries rely on customs brokers like Sue and Mark. U.S. customs brokers are licensed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. They know how all the trade rules work and what to do when a shipment needs attention from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, or the Environmental Protection Agency.

When Sue and Mark learn about an incoming shipment from one of their customers—usually by fax or e-mail—they immediately enter all the information about that shipment into their computer system. They send that information to U.S. Customs and arrange to pay all the taxes or tariffs that are due on the shipment. Usually, they receive approval from Customs right away on the computer.

But sometimes, even in this digital age, things don't work that easily. Special shipments or shipments that include consolidated loads from several businesses, for instance, sometimes can't be cleared electronically. And then Sue and Mark have to work the old-fashioned way, carrying packets of paperwork to the U.S. Customs office in downtown Seattle or to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport south of the city.

Most days, Sue and Mark work quickly to keep freight moving into Seattle. But what happens when an earthquake knocks out the airport's control tower and damages the major road between their office and downtown Seattle? Download the case study to learn more!