Customs clearance in France: streamlining your supply chain

Choosing your customs office in France

France has a dense network of customs offices throughout the country, facilitating the transit of goods. Depending on their location and available infrastructure, some are specialized to handle specific flows.

France’s main customs hubs and their specialties

Customs offices at seaports

• Le Havre: France’s leading port, ideal for containerized goods.
• Marseille-Fos: Key hub for Mediterranean trade.
• Dunkirk: Specializing in bulk and industrial goods.

Customs offices at international airports

• Roissy-CDG: France’s number-one airfreight hub, ideal for urgent and valuable goods.
• Lyon Saint-Exupéry: a strategic regional hub for import/export.
• Basel-Mulhouse: Specializing in the transport of pharmaceutical products.
• Marignane (Marseille-Provence): Handling of air traffic flows, in particular for industry and yachting.
• Nice-Côte d’Azur: air freight at France’s 2nd largest international airport, customs clearance of luxury goods, aromas, etc.

Border crossings and inland customs offices

• Calais and Calais port/tunnel (Eurotunnel): Keys to managing post-Brexit flows.
• Strasbourg and Lille: Strategic access to German and Benelux markets.
• Specialized interior offices: Services tailored to industries such as food processing, textiles and chemicals.

Why are some customs offices specialized?

Customs offices specialize according to three criteria:

1. Infrastructure: Some sites are equipped for specific goods (e.g. bulk goods at Dunkirk, containers at Le Havre).
2. Trade flows: the proximity of trade routes influences their specialization (e.g. Roissy-CDG for express freight).
3. Regulations: Some offices handle complex operations or specific taxes (excise or energy taxes, etc.), particularly at borders (Calais, Strasbourg).

Where can you clear customs in France?

When importing goods, customs clearance can be carried out in several ways:

• At the port or airport of arrival: immediate customs clearance for rapid circulation.
• At an inland customs office: Transit under customs control to the office of destination for subsequent customs clearance.
• Bonded warehousing: Storage without immediate payment of duties and taxes, ideal for goods destined for or deferred to a later market.

Contact us to explore the benefits of bonded warehousing: cost reduction, flow optimization and increased flexibility for your supply chain.

Optimize your customs clearance in France with MATHEZ FREIGHT

Visit customs services MATHEZ FREIGHT’s customs services offer secure customs clearance solutions throughout France. Our network is designed to offer both the flexibility of local management and the efficiency of a centralized service, meeting the requirements of importers and exporters, whether for air, sea or road freight, goods or specific sectors.

Customs solutions for every mode of transport

• Air customs clearance: Fast, efficient processing of urgent shipments.
• Marine customs clearance: complete process management for specific containers and cargoes.
• Road customs clearance and post-Brexit flows: Optimized management of customs formalities, particularly for trade with the UK and flows subject to new European regulations.
• Yachting: Expertise in customs clearance of goods related to the nautical industry (shipyards, shipping…)

Customs clearance points throughout France

For a clear overview of our network and the specializations of each office, download our map of customs offices in France in PDF format. It will enable you to identify at a glance the most suitable customs clearance point for your goods.

On request, we can open new in-house or on-site customs clearance points to meet your specific needs.

Our assets for secure, optimized customs clearance

• AEO-Full accreditation: Our Authorized Economic Operator (AEO-Full) status guarantees simplified controls and smoother customs operations.
• On-site customs clearance: For companies wishing to centralize their customs formalities, we offer a solution for customs clearance directly in your warehouses, reducing delays and optimizing logistics.