It Used to Be a Low-Drama Gig. Customs Broker Is Now a High-Stress Job
Jonathan Lieberman followed his father into the profession. His dad never had to WhatsApp anxious customers from bed.
Lieberman in his office at New York Customs Brokers.
Photographer: Adrienne Grunwald for Bloomberg Businessweek
A 75-pound box of frozen shrimp is sitting in Jonathan Lieberman’s office, and he’s starting to get nervous. By 2 p.m. the shrimp must be ready for shipment to Georgia—the final leg of a 9,000-mile journey. Before this can happen, Lieberman needs to inspect them, weigh them, check their temperature, refresh their dry ice and finish their customs paperwork. “These shrimp have been on a voyage,” he says, patting the large cardboard box. “All the way from Chennai, India.”
These shrimp are Litopenaeus vannamei—frozen, cleaned, about the size of a quarter. Tariff code: HS 0306.17.0041. There are dozens of tariff codes for shrimp, depending on whether they’ve been cooked, peeled, deveined; whether they come in a can, a jar, a sauce or a paste; and whether they have their head … or not. As president of New York Customs Brokers Inc., which specializes in seafood, Lieberman knows most of them by heart.