Port of Hamburg Magazin 03 - Hafen Hamburg

25.
Hamburg’s customs agency
Porath Customs Agents looks
back on 25 successful years.
Founded in 1985 by Jürgen Porath,
the family business is among the leading
customs agencies in Germany
with its 30 employees and an annual
turnover of 2,6 million Euro.
“From our three locations Hamburg,
Bremerhaven and Frankfurt/Main
we operate an independent, familyrun
company, which is completely
neutral,” Managing Director Thorsten
Porath said. “We owe this clear competitive
advantage to the successful
business development over the past
25 years as well as loyal customers
from industry, trade and logistics.”
Overview of the corporate
development:
In 1985, in the Hamburg’s Speicher -
stadt, Jürgen Porath, a trained forwarding
agent and former warehouse
manager, started with the organi-
zing of transport through the Porath
Forwarding Agency mbH. Soon, he
devotes himself entirely to customs
procedures under the name Porath
GmbH Customs Declaration Officer.
Already in 1991, the young company
opens its second office in Ham -
burg-Waltershof.
His son Thorsten Porath, trained as a
forwarding agent, joins the company
in 1992 and becomes managing
director in 1996. Since 2003 he is
sole managing partner. Due to strong
corporate growth, he centralizes
both Hamburg-based offices at the
Windhuk quay. In order to be presented
at other logistic hubs in
Germany apart from Hamburg,
Porath opens an air freight subsidiary
in September 2006 in CargoCity
Süd at Frankfurt’s airport. Parallel
to the additional title “Customs
Declaration Officer,” the international
known “Customs Agents” develops.
The youngest subsidiary follows
in Bremerhaven in 2008 – in
the center of logistical activities
close to the customs office.
The Great Jubilee Special
Unlimited customs administration
with surplus value
Today, Porath Customs Agents has a
broad service portfolio in the area
customs management – ranging
from import and export customs
clearing and the operation of a customs
warehouse to the handling of
inward processing arrangements.
Additional services, such as veterinary
clearance, express and customer
delivery and special trips, fiscal
representation for European customers
as well as the entire outsourcing
of import handling make
Porath a full service provider.
Customers can use the services also
in Europe and the Far East via a
strong partnership network. Further -
more, the company is networked
with other Hamburg-based customs
agencies. As chairman of the association
Hamburg Customs Clearance
Officer, Thorsten Porath encourages
a lively exchange in the industry.
In recent years, the expert in customs
has experienced close up the changed
customs formalities – ranging from
applications on paper to the paperless,
electronic processing. “While
today’s processing via the computercontrolled
ATLAS system is much
more comfortable, it also brings
about dangers,” Thorsten Porath
warns. “Again and again, companies
do their customs declaration themselves
even though they are not in
the slightest familiar with national
and European laws and policies.
Thus, mistakes can easily be made,
which result in high penalties.”
Foto: HHM
There is no question that customs
management is an extremely complex
subject. Thus, Thorsten Porath
builds on the further training of his
employees on a regular basis
“Whether customs code, sales tax
law or anti-dumping regulation, in
our field something constantly
changes. We are the interface between
importers and logistics providers
on the one hand and customs
administration on the other hand.
We ensure that the flow of goods
won’t be unnecessarily blocked.”
PORT OF HAMBURG MAGAZINE 3/10
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