San Francisco-based freight forwarding and customs brokerage services provider Flexport this week said that it has rolled out its first international fulfillment service operations, in in Mississauga, Canada and Manchester, England, respectively.
Flexport officials said that bringing international fulfillment services to these locales extends the company’s end-to-end logistics network into markets where its customers already sell. What’s more, it added that “Canada and the United Kingdom rank among the most attractive markets in the world to sell into, and many brands serve them from a warehouse in another country.”
“Our customers built demand in Canada and the UK long before they had a good way to serve it,” said Ryan Petersen, Founder and CEO of Flexport, in a statement. “Flexport customers using freight through fulfillment in the U.S. have seen tangible efficiencies and cost savings with end-to-end logistics. We’re happy to offer that to more customers in new markets.”
In Canada, Flexport’s Mississauga facility, near Toronto Pearson Airport, serves Canada’s largest population center and is Health Canada certified for medical products, supplements, and consumer goods. Inbound operations began in July 2026, with customer shipments starting in September.
And in the United Kingdom, Flexport operates from two partner-run facilities in Manchester, both using AutoStore automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS). The robotic system efficiently retrieves inventory and can store the same volume of goods in about 25% of the floor space of a traditional warehouse.
In an interview with LM, Petersen explained that there were various factors that led to Flexport opening up these new fulfillment service centers, with demand from its existing customers at the top of the list.
“Brands using Flexport for freight and customs into Canada and the UK were already selling heavily into those markets, but had to route fulfillment through a warehouse in another country—adding time and cost to what could be a domestic delivery,” said Petersen. “Canada and the UK are two of the largest international markets for our customers, so extending fulfillment there was a natural next step in building out the end-to-end network.”
When asked about the main benefits these new international fulfillment centers provide for Flexport’s shipper customers, Petersen cited three key ones:
- In-market fulfillment. Brands can now store inventory in Canada and the UK and fulfill domestically, instead of shipping cross-border for every order—which typically means faster delivery and fewer customs touchpoints per shipment;
- One continuous relationship. Customers keep the same platform, account team, and freight/customs relationship they already use—no new vendor to manage; and
- Direct customs clearance and in-country returns. Flexport clears customs directly in both markets, and orders and returns stay entirely within the country rather than crossing back over a border
Prior to this announcement, Flexport only served customers in Canada and the UK through freight and customs services only, moving goods into Canada and the UK, but without a fulfillment layer on the other end.
“Customers handled the ‘last mile’ themselves often by warehousing in a different country than where they were actually selling, which added the extra cross-border step to domestic orders,” he said. “Now that gap is closed and customers can hold inventory in-market and fulfill locally, on the same platform and account relationship they already trust for freight.”
In terms of the main competitive advantages these new international fulfillment centers provide, from a Flexport perspective, Petersen pointed to network expansion into markets customers already need, with Canada and the UK rounding out Flexport’s fulfillment footprint outside the U.S., with continental Europe next in 2027—building toward a fulfillment network that mirrors the international freight lanes Flexport already runs.
Another advantage cited by Petersen was facility-level differentiation.
As an example, he noted that the Mississauga facility carries Health Canada certifications for medical products, supplements, and consumer goods, and the Manchester facilities run on AutoStore automated storage and retrieval systems where robots pull inventory to a human picker vs. pickers walking the aisles themselves.
“That setup fits roughly the same inventory volume into about a quarter of the floor space of a traditional warehouse—meaning more capacity and throughput per square foot, which translates into speed and cost savings passed onto customers,” he said.
