Client Success Story: Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturer
Client Success Story
How a Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturer Recovered $500,000 in Overpaid Duties
Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturer
Industry
Commercial Refrigeration Equipment
Region
Australia
Freight mode
Sea freight (primary)
Service
Customs brokerage and duty recovery
The challenge
A trusted process was hiding a costly mistake
When a commercial refrigeration equipment manufacturer switched to Navia from their long-standing freight forwarder, their primary goal was greater reliability and a more optimised supply chain. What they did not expect was to uncover a costly customs error that had been hiding in plain sight for years. The company had trusted their previous forwarder to manage imports routinely and had no reason to suspect anything was wrong until Navia’s customs specialists took a closer look.
Challenge & solution
What was uncovered, and how Navia fixed it
What appeared to be a routine customs process was actually costing the business hundreds of thousands of dollars. Navia identified the issue, recovered the funds, and ensured it would never happen again.
The challenge
- Hidden customs error. Imports had been processed incorrectly for years without being identified.
- Incorrect tariff classification. Refrigeration equipment was classified under the wrong tariff code, attracting duties 5% higher than required.
- Five years of overpayments. The error had been repeated consistently across shipments for five years.
- No review of historical entries. The previous process focused on routine clearance rather than verifying classification accuracy.
What Navia delivered
- Comprehensive customs review. Every shipment was examined beyond standard processing, including detailed tariff classification checks.
- Identification of systematic misclassification. Navia discovered the incorrect tariff code responsible for years of unnecessary duty payments.
- Five-year customs investigation. Historical import entries were reviewed to determine the total financial impact.
- Complete duty recovery. Detailed duty drawback claims and refund requests were prepared and lodged with customs authorities.
- End-to-end case management. Navia handled all communication and follow-up with customs until the claims were successfully resolved.
- Correct future classifications. All future shipments were reclassified correctly to prevent the issue from recurring.
Business outcomes
Immediate savings with long-term protection
$500,000 recovered
More than $500,000 in overpaid duties was recovered in full within weeks of discovery.
Ongoing duty savings
Correct tariff classifications are now applied to every shipment, preventing future overpayments.
Immediate ROI
The financial benefit of switching to Navia was realised before a full year of freight operations had even been completed.
Trusted customs expertise
Navia now actively monitors tariff classifications to ensure ongoing compliance and cost optimisation.
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