A kit that is built at origin is built months before you know what the customer wants. A kit that is built at the port is built the week the order drops. Baltimore 3PL runs kitting, assembly and value-added work at partner warehouses near the Port of Baltimore, so importers can land bulk components, hold them, and build the exact configuration the order calls for. The result is less obsolete stock, fewer SKUs on the water, and a finished unit that is ready for the retailer, the marketplace or the job site.
How it runs at the Port of Baltimore
Components discharge at Seagirt, the container terminal operated by Ports America Chesapeake, which handled a record 1,113,309 TEU in 2025 across 15 weekly container services. A drayage partner moves the container to a partner warehouse in Jessup, Elkridge, Glen Burnie or at Tradepoint Atlantic, the private port and logistics site at Sparrows Point. The crew devans, counts and puts the components away by SKU and lot.
When an order drops, the partner warehouse pulls the bill of materials, builds the kit on a bench or a line, applies the label and the insert, and packs the unit for its channel. Retail-ready display builds, subscription boxes, bundle packs, product relabeling, country-of-origin marking, price ticketing and light assembly all run the same way. The finished goods ship by parcel, by retail distribution to a DC, or by truck to a site.
Each kit gets a finished-goods SKU and a count. You get daily status by email: components received, kits built, kits shipped and the component balance that remains.
What the partner network brings
We do not own the warehouse. We own the relationship, and the result. Baltimore 3PL is a service-area logistics company that has curated its Baltimore partner network for fifty years. For kitting that means we match the job to the building that already does that kind of work: a labor-rich building in Howard County for high-volume subscription packs, a partner with controlled handling for medical kits, a secure building near Fort Meade or Aberdeen Proving Ground for defense integrators, a zone site at Tradepoint Atlantic when duty is the issue.
One desk holds the whole program. You send the bill of materials and the forecast to one phone number. The desk gets the right partner for the work, schedules the labor, and reports the output. If components arrive in several containers that need devanning first, see transloading.
What it costs and what moves the price
Kitting is priced per kit or per labor hour, plus materials. Storage of components is priced per pallet per month. Receiving and outbound shipping are priced as separate lines so you can see the build cost on its own.
What moves the price:
- Number of components per kit and the steps per build. A three-part bundle costs less than a twelve-part display.
- Packaging you supply versus packaging the partner warehouse sources.
- Labeling complexity, including serialized labels, lot capture or retailer-specific tickets.
- Run size. A forecast that lets the crew run a full shift costs less per kit than a daily trickle.
- Quality steps such as functional tests, photo records or a first-article sign-off.
Kitting inside FTZ No. 74
Foreign Trade Zone No. 74 is administered by the Baltimore Development Corporation. Its service area is Baltimore City plus Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Cecil, Harford, Howard and Queen Anne’s counties, and all of Tradepoint Atlantic is inside it. Duty on goods admitted to a zone is deferred until they leave the zone for US commerce. Goods that leave the zone for export never enter US commerce.
For a kitting program that changes the picture. Components can land, sit and be built into kits with the duty bill waiting until the finished kit ships to a US customer. Kits built for export can leave the zone without that bill. Our FTZ and bonded warehouse page covers the mechanics. The FTZ No. 74 guide covers the service area and the activation steps.
The second local advantage is reach. From Seagirt, Washington DC is about 40 road miles, Philadelphia about 105 and New York about 195. Pittsburgh is about 250 and Chicago about 700. Baltimore is the closest Atlantic port to the Midwest, and about one third of US households are within a day’s drive. A kit built in Jessup on Monday can be on a retail shelf in four states by Wednesday.
What to send for a quote
- Bill of materials for each kit, with component SKUs and quantities
- Monthly kit volume and the seasonal forecast
- Component dimensions, weights and country of origin
- Finished kit dimensions and the channel it ships to (retail, parcel, B2B)
- Labeling and packaging specifications, with samples if you have them
- Whether components arrive by container at Seagirt, by rail or by truck
- Any duty, export or security requirement that points to FTZ or secure handling
Send it to operations@sams3pl.com or call (419) 745-9492. Or start at request a quote. You get a written quote within one business day.
Questions shippers ask
01What kinds of kits do you build?
Retail display builds, subscription and bundle packs, product relabeling, country-of-origin marking, price ticketing, light assembly and configuration kits for integrators. Send the bill of materials and we confirm the partner that does that work.
02Can kitting happen inside FTZ No. 74?
Yes, at a partner warehouse inside the zone, including sites at Tradepoint Atlantic. Duty on the components is deferred until the finished kit leaves the zone for US commerce.
03Do you source packaging?
Either way. You can supply cartons, inserts and labels, or the partner warehouse sources them and bills them as a materials line on the quote.
04Is there a minimum volume?
There is no fixed minimum. The price per kit drops with run size, so we quote your forecast as it is and show where a larger run would change the rate.
05How do I know what was built?
Each kit gets a finished-goods SKU and a count. You get daily status by email with components received, kits built, kits shipped and the component balance.