Shipping Door-to-Port

[Crystal_Lil_2]

Hi there - I'm here under a new log-in name because I can't sign in using my old one (Crystal Lil) since the changes. Anyway - does anyone have any experience of shipping boxes to nz (Auckland in particular) door-to-port only? I've had a quote from Cargobookers - ?148.46 for 1 cubic metre/200 kg (8 boxes 50 x 50 x 50 cms), but they tell me that this does not include destination charges. When I asked what these charges might be, she said: customs clearance (you can do it yourself for free); duties taxes (should be no charge); quarantine (she said this should be no charge but MAF website says it's $45 - I'm not too worried about that); and "port handling fees". Now - these are the ones that I'm wanting to find out about. The woman from cargobookers said that these fees were for: offloading, delivery of boxes to warehouse and documentation and could be around ?100. Has anyone done this? If so, was it relatively straightforward and can you tell me if the destination charges above sound roughly accurate?

Many thanks,

Lil.

[Welshgirl]

We used Bargate International to ship our stuff over - pick up from an address in Wales and deliver to Auckland. It wasn't a great deal of stuff, but the price we got from Bargate was inclusive of everything (except a small storage charge by the port as there was a few days delay before we picked the stuff up), so I can't understand why all these extras should apply to you ?:-/

[Crystal_Lil_2]

Hi Welshgirl

Thanks for your reply - maybe I'll check out Bargate International for a quote. The Cargobookers quote is by far the cheapest I've found, so I'm wondering if that is because they leave out services that other shippers include in their price.

Cheers, Lil.

[MotherBear]

Hi Lil,

We just had a quote from Bargate to ship 13 boxes of my stuff from the UK to Oman. ?The quote was from door to port but didn't include customs fees and import duty etc. ?Don't know what that would have amounted to, although I suspect it would be a couple of hundred pounds. ?We opted to go for another local company instead and they were quite a bit more expensive but were door-to-door so all port entry fees and documentation will be taken care of on our behalf when the shipment arrives (I hope ? ?). Bargate said they would charge 290 GBP for 2.5 cu. mtrs. so I don't know if that's the going rate for wherever they ship to or just to Oman.

If you've got PR you shouldn't have to pay import duty. ?There may be a smallish MAF fee but there shouldn't be much else you have to pay.

[Crystal_Lil_2]

Thanks Mother Bear - that's really useful. I haven't got PR (yet) but my partner's a kiwi so it's all going in his name (te he). So, no, there shouldn't be any import duty. We're happy to do the customs and quarantine clearance ourselves and we've got plenty of friends who can help us with transport, so picking it up won't be a problem. I'm wondering if the woman at cargobookers was inventing this possible charge of ?100 for offloading the boxes and taking them to a warehouse - you would have thought that this was included in the door-to-port service??? I just don't want to be stung with paying for something I wasn't prepared for! Thanks again!

[Crystal_Lil_2]

I have spoken to Cargobookers again to ask them to clarify what this extra "port handling" charge is for. They tell me that the quote they have given me covers collection from my address all the way to arrival in Auckland dock and no more. They say that I will need an agent to offload the boxes and take them to a warehouse where I can collect them and that this will cost me ?120 - ?150 (including 1 hour MAF inspection charges - but not customs clearance). I have asked if there is any way that I can avoid using an agent at Auckland and have been told that there is not! Obviously, if MAF don't want to inspect my stuff, that cost will come down. Am I being unnecessarily suspicious here? Another shipping company gave me a much higher quote for shipping the stuff door-to-port, but said they would add on about ?60 - 70 for taking things through customs and quarantine clearance, ready for me to collect at the port. I'm away for a lie down in a darkened room.