Yes — Nexus Warehouse runs FBA prep 15 miles from Port Newark, in Carlstadt, NJ. Containers cleared at the port can be picked up, stripped, prepped to Amazon’s requirements, and re-shipped to an FC without your freight ever leaving northern New Jersey. Standard pallets are $10 in and $10 out, the first two hours of storage on arrival are free, and the daily cutoff is 9 PM — so a container that clears in the morning can be prepped and moving the same day.
Why distance to the port is the number that matters
Most FBA sellers compare prep centers on per-unit price. That is the wrong first filter for imported freight. If your container lands at Port Newark or Elizabeth and your prep center is in Pennsylvania or upstate New York, you are paying for a drayage leg that exists only because of where the warehouse sits — and you are adding a day or two before anything gets touched.
Carlstadt is inside the drayage radius where a container can be pulled and returned within the same working day. That collapses two costs at once: the linehaul to the prep facility, and the per-diem clock running on the container itself.
What FBA prep actually covers here
FBA prep is a category, not a single service. In practice an imported shipment usually needs some combination of the following before Amazon will receive it:
- Receiving and count verification against your packing list, so a short shipment is caught at the dock rather than at the FC.
- FNSKU labelling on units or cases.
- Polybagging, bundling and multi-packs where the listing requires it.
- Carton re-work — splitting overweight master cartons, rebuilding damaged ones, correcting box dimensions that would trigger an Amazon fee.
- Pallet building and restack to Amazon’s pallet spec, including the shrink-wrap and pallet label placement the FC expects.
- Shipment plan execution — splitting one container across multiple FC destinations.
The last two are where most delays and chargebacks originate. A container packed floor-loaded overseas has to become compliant Amazon pallets somewhere, and doing it at the port end rather than at the FC end is what keeps a shipment from being refused.
Published rates and timing
| Item | Rate / window |
|---|---|
| Standard pallet in | $10 |
| Standard pallet out | $10 |
| Storage on arrival | First 2 hours free |
| Daily cutoff | 9 PM |
| Distance to Port Newark | 15 miles |
| Per-unit prep (labelling, polybag, bundle) | Quoted per SKU — depends on unit handling |
| Container destuff | Quoted per container — depends on load type |
Pallet handling is published because it is predictable. Per-unit prep is not, and any prep centre quoting a single flat per-unit number before seeing your SKUs is guessing. A polybagged 200-gram accessory and a 12-kilo boxed appliance do not cost the same to touch. Send a packing list and a photo of a typical carton and the quote comes back specific.
A realistic timeline for an imported container
- Day 0 — customs release. Nothing can move before this, and it is outside any warehouse’s control.
- Day 0–1 — port pickup. Container pulled from Port Newark or the rail ramp and brought to Carlstadt.
- Day 1 — destuff and receive. Unloaded, counted against the packing list, discrepancies reported same day.
- Day 1–3 — prep. Labelling, bagging, re-work, pallet build to Amazon spec. Duration depends on unit count and how much re-work the overseas packing left behind.
- Day 2–4 — outbound. LTL or FTL to the assigned FCs, or held in storage if you are drip-feeding inventory to manage Amazon’s restock limits.
That last point is worth dwelling on. Restock limits mean the fastest possible path to the FC is often not the most profitable one. Holding inventory 15 miles from the port and releasing it in waves costs less than storing it at Amazon and far less than a stranded container.
Questions worth asking any FBA prep centre
- Can you pull my container directly from the port? If not, you are paying a separate drayage vendor and coordinating two companies.
- What is the cutoff, and is it a real cutoff? A 9 PM cutoff means freight tendered that evening moves that night, not the following afternoon.
- What happens when the count is short? The answer should be “you hear about it the same day, with photos,” not “we reconcile at the end.”
- Can you handle overweight and damaged cartons? Re-work capability is what separates a prep centre from a storage unit.
- Is storage metered in hours or in months? Cross-dock economics and warehousing economics are different businesses.
Where this sits in the wider operation
FBA prep rarely arrives alone. The same container that needs prepping often also needs cross-docking for the non-Amazon portion of the load, and sellers running both retail and FBA channels usually need freight consolidation on the outbound side. Rates for the handling components are on the pricing page, and a specific quote takes a packing list and a rough monthly volume — send those over and you get real numbers rather than a range.
This article is one part of a wider picture. For the full sequence — what happens to a container after discharge at Port Newark, what every handling step costs at published rates, and which clock is running against you at each stage — see Importing Through Port Newark: the complete warehouse and 3PL guide.
Common questions
How much does FBA prep cost near Port Newark?
Handling is $10 per standard pallet in and $10 per standard pallet out, with a $100 minimum per visit. A floor-loaded container is $85 per built pallet. The first 2 hours of storage on arrival are free; after that it is $4 per pallet per day short-term or $75 per pallet per month long-term. Per-unit prep work such as labeling, polybagging and bundling is quoted per shipment, because the cost turns on unit and carton count rather than pallet count.
How fast can a container be prepped and shipped into Amazon?
Nexus Warehouse is 15 miles from Port Newark, so a container pulled in the morning can be stripped, prepped and staged for outbound the same day. The daily cutoff is 9 PM. Work that runs late carries an after-hours fee: $150 between 5 and 7 PM, $250 between 7 and 9 PM, and $350 after 9 PM with manager approval.
Do I need my own drayage to use an FBA prep warehouse in New Jersey?
No. Nexus Warehouse arranges port and rail container pickup, so the freight moves from the terminal to Carlstadt without you sourcing a separate drayage vendor. Timing is the reason this matters: demurrage stops when the container leaves the terminal, and per diem stops when the empty is returned, so a short drayage run plus a fast strip cuts both clocks.
Nexus Warehouse operates from Carlstadt, New Jersey, 15 miles from Port Newark, and holds a 4.8-star Google rating across more than 130 reviews.