Most international shipping arrangements are actually port-to-port - the freight forwarder gets your cargo onto the vessel and off at the destination port, and everything else (origin pickup, customs clearance, inland delivery) is your problem to coordinate. Door-to-door shipping removes all of those separate arrangements by placing every leg under a single partner's responsibility.
What Door-to-Door Actually Includes
A true door-to-door shipping service covers:
- Origin pickup: Collection of cargo from your supplier's or your own facility at origin.
- Export customs: Export declaration filing and export clearance at the origin country.
- International freight: Ocean or air transport from origin port/airport to destination port/airport.
- Import customs: Import entry filing, duty payment, and customs clearance at the destination country.
- Inland delivery: Transport from the destination port or airport to the final delivery address.
Every one of these legs is coordinated by a single provider, with a single price, a single point of contact, and a single party accountable for the entire journey.
How It Differs from Port-to-Port and Airport-to-Airport
Port-to-port freight covers ocean transport only - the shipper arranges origin pickup, export customs, import customs, and inland delivery separately. Airport-to-airport air freight follows the same model. These arrangements work for businesses with their own logistics resources at both ends, but they create coordination complexity and accountability gaps that door-to-door eliminates.
The Incoterms Connection
Door-to-door shipping aligns most closely with DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) Incoterms - the seller's maximum responsibility, covering all costs and risks to the buyer's facility including import duties. This makes door-to-door particularly valuable for sellers who want to offer their buyers a complete, predictable landed cost without the buyer needing to arrange any logistics independently.
When Door-to-Door Makes Sense
- New trade lanes: When you're shipping to a new country and don't have established logistics contacts at destination, door-to-door gives you a single expert partner covering everything.
- E-commerce and B2C fulfillment: When your buyers are end consumers who cannot manage customs and delivery themselves, door-to-door is often the only viable model.
- Simplifying operations: Businesses that manage dozens of individual logistics relationships often find that consolidating to door-to-door with a single partner reduces overhead, errors, and cost.
TMG Door-to-Door Coverage
TMG provides door-to-door shipping services from the Philippines to major global markets and inbound from key sourcing origins. Our domestic coverage includes pickup from any Philippine origin point and delivery to any destination address. Our agent network covers destination customs and inland delivery in key markets across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America.