The avoidable filing errors that turn a two-hour clearance into a fortnight in a bonded shed.
Almost every long customs hold traces back to something that was decided before the goods shipped. Wrong HS code, missing certificate of origin, undervalued invoice, mismatched weights, or a consignee who is not registered as an importer.
The expensive part is rarely the penalty. It is the demurrage, the detention and the production line that stopped because a part sat 40 metres from the gate for nine days.
Fix it upstream: validate classifications annually, keep origin certificates with the purchase file, and make sure whoever signs the invoice knows what a customs valuation actually is.