Freight Forwarder in Toronto With Its Own Warehouse, Crews & Trucks

What an asset-based freight forwarder does differently

A conventional forwarder books the vessel and subcontracts everything that touches the cargo: the trucker who picks it up, the warehouse that consolidates it, the crew that loads the container, the drayage carrier that takes it to the rail. Every hand-off is a place for a delay, a damage claim or a surcharge nobody warned you about. At Metropolitan Logistics those steps happen inside one building and one dispatch desk. Your freight arrives at our North York warehouse on our truck, is packed or crated by our people, is loaded and secured by our crews, and leaves for the intermodal terminal on our chassis.

For the shipper the difference shows up in three places: fewer surprises on the invoice, one accountable party when something goes wrong, and cargo that is actually seen by the company that booked it.

• Pickup across the GTA and Southern Ontario on our straight trucks
• Receiving, consolidation and export packing at our North York warehouse
• Container stuffing, blocking and bracing by our loading crews
• Drayage to CPKC Vaughan / CN Brampton and in-gate against the rail cut-off
• Ocean booking with the steamship line, bill of lading and documentation
• Destination agent coordination for door delivery abroad

Export freight forwarding from Toronto

Exports from Southern Ontario travel by rail to the coast: Montreal and Halifax for Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa and South America's east coast; Vancouver and Prince Rupert for Asia and Oceania. We book the ocean leg, arrange the rail-inclusive routing (carrier haulage or merchant haulage as the lane dictates), and manage the cut-offs that decide whether a container sails this week or next. Documentation is handled in-house: commercial invoice and packing list review, shipper's letter of instruction, the export declaration filed through CBSA's CERS system, bill of lading instructions, verified gross mass (VGM), dangerous goods declarations where applicable, and certificates of origin arranged through the relevant chamber.

Cargo that needs crating, skidding or ISPM-15 compliant packaging is handled before loading by our crating and export packing team. Our practical guide to the paperwork side is here: How to export from Canada.

Import freight forwarding into the GTA

For importers we book origin-to-door: pickup at the supplier abroad through partner agents, ocean freight to a Canadian port, rail to CN Brampton or CPKC Vaughan, and the final dray and delivery on our own equipment. Customs clearance is performed by a licensed customs broker — yours, or one we introduce — and we coordinate release timing so the container is pulled the day it grounds rather than a week later. If your dock cannot take a container, the box is unloaded at our warehouse and delivered on straight trucks, which is often cheaper than direct delivery once per-diem is counted.

Importers need a CBSA business number with an import/export program account and, since 2024, a CARM Client Portal registration before goods can be released. We walk first-time importers through both before their first booking.

FCL, LCL and where each makes sense

Full container loads suit 10 or more pallets, high-value or fragile goods you do not want co-loaded, and any cargo where a fixed departure matters. Less-than-container consolidation suits one to eight pallets, samples, spare parts and household goods. LCL from Toronto is consolidated in our warehouse or a partner CFS, sails on the same vessels, and is deconsolidated at destination. Our ocean freight FCL & LCL page compares costs, transit times and the surcharges to expect on each.

Industries and cargo we forward

Machinery and industrial equipment out of Southern Ontario's manufacturing base; building products, steel and fixtures; retail and consumer goods from Asia into GTA distribution; medical and laboratory equipment with crating and moisture protection; project cargo for construction and energy; and household goods and vehicles for the private moving funnel, which has its own page: international moving from the GTA.

Freight forwarders elsewhere in the world use us as their Toronto agent for the same reason shippers do: we own the last mile and the warehouse, so their cargo is handled once.