Petroleum stored at a port can sit in one of two statuses: bonded, meaning duty and tax are suspended, or duty-paid, meaning they have been settled. The status decides which tank the product can go into, which documents move it, and when the cash leaves your account.

Bonded storage

Bonded storage holds product with customs duty, excise duty or both suspended. Non-Union goods sit in a customs warehouse until they are imported or re-exported. Fuels sit in an excise (tax) warehouse until they are released for consumption. The advantage is cash flow: duty is paid when product is sold and released, not when it lands. It also lets you trade product between bonded facilities or export it without ever paying EU duty. The cost is compliance: the warehouse keeper holds the authorisation, every movement in or out is documented, and stock is reconciled against the customs record.

Duty-paid storage

Duty-paid product has cleared customs and excise. It can go into any suitable tank and move by any carrier on a plain CMR, with no transit or excise document. The advantage is simplicity. The cost is paying duty on landing, on product you may hold for months before it sells.

Choosing between them

Product for export or for sale to other bonded operators belongs in bond. Product for immediate domestic distribution is often simpler duty-paid. Mixed programmes usually land in bond and release to duty-paid in tranches as sales are made.

World Logistics Services arranges both through partner facilities at Rīga, Ventspils and Liepāja and prepares the customs entries, e-ADs and release orders for each movement.