Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
As a beginner, there is a lot to think about when first shipping. here we have written a small guide to exporting and what to expect. MSE is here to guide you and we can help with all exports whether personal items or commerical goods. Get in touch to see how we can assist you today.
All are options dependent on the budget and urgency of your shipment. Once we know these, we can advise the options available to you.
The vast majority of sea freight movements around the world are in liner owned shipping containers. This means the shipping line owns the physical container. Sea movements come with a box included. If you wish to buy a container, we can supply one for you although the shipping lines don't offer discount if you do use your own container as they need their boxes moving 24/7.
This does change dependant on where you are shipping to. Most notably that would include war zones and political hot spots, extremely remote locations (polar regions, centre of rainforests etc) and also a lot of African destinations, but shipping lines can make up their own restrictions and these will change over time
If you are a private individual, you will need to pay for the full shipment before we will release the container for you
If you are a business, depending on the relationship, we may offer terms on payment and take a deposit at the start of the order.
The Bill of lading document is the legal document of title for the goods that are in your container and you will need this document to effect the release of the container at destination. This document is only issued once the ship leaves UK territorial waters, which does mean you need to ask for these once the ship has departed.
If you delay payment, you will delay the bill of lading document being issued, and this may then arrive with you after your shipping container has arrived, and when your shipping container has already incurred extra storage charges at the destination port. These can very commonly be the equivalent of £50-100 per 20ft (or twice this for a 40ft) per DAY that the container is sat at port.
Insurance is not included unless the laws in that country require it.
Insurance is available and this must be requested before the booking is confirmed.
There are varying policies available including high value insurance, & total loss insurance
When making a booking, please enquire as to the options available for your cargo as this will differ for different commodities and whether the cargo is commercial or not
Firstly shipping companies advise sailing schedules in advance. the chances of them running perfectly to schedule are unlikely, and delays of a few days are common.
The captain of the ship has total control over the route and port calls. If ships are running late, the captain can decide to skip a port or come back at a later date. Shipping Lines can very occasionally send your container to the wrong part of the world, boats hit delays, or have mechanical issues, or may even have political or commercial issues.
The boat owner may choose to slow their boat down. If they are short of export booking at the destination port, slowing the vessel down will save fuel costs plus also mean there are more containers waiting for them to take back, when they do finally arrive at their destination. Never treat the sailing schedules as a guarantee, more of a guide. As well as boat delays, trucks and trains also run late or experience technical issues when collecting or delivering containers which has a knock on effect.
In the UK, for container haulage, Fridays and 4 day weeks (Bank holiday weeks and often the weeks before the bank holiday weekend as well) are traditional peak times, and Mondays are the traditional quiet day. Book your export load for a Monday and we suggest it’s much more likely to be on time than a booking for a Friday on a 4 day week.
All official transit documents are termed ‘shippers load, stow and count’ which means youare required to pack and stow safely, and also required to accurately declare what is inside the container. As well as packing safely this also means that you are required to provide an accurate and detailed list of the contents to the container.
Badly packed shipping containers risk more than just damaged cargo, they are a danger to others who are working to move your container around. Loose cargo can destabilise a truck or port crane, and in extreme cases a truck needing to do an emergency stop may then have a heavy item push through from the shipping container and kill him. They also account for over half of all cargo and freight damage so this is the single biggest risk to a trouble free shipment.
As the shipper you are liable for any issues due to bad or unsafe packing. You can get professionals in to pack your shipping container for you, or you can do this yourself. There are lots of guides online about how to pack specific items in a shipping container, but generally ensure everything is lashed down well, and ensure the container is evenly loaded. The container should always be emptied completely when it arrives to the unloading place. All packaging and rubbish needs to be removed at the same time.
We can advise on packing list and invoices when the time comes to note this.
It may sound alarming but most containers are shipped without padlocks on and this is normal. As standard, shipping containers in transit are sealed with a bolt seal. Every time your shipping container is ‘interchanged’ (passed between trucks, trains or boats on its journey) the seal a number is recorded. That way if the container is broken into – where this was broken into can be traced back to the specific link in the chain.
It is your responsibility to seal the container with a bolt seal. Seals can be requested and supplied.
This means it’s simply not worth breaking into containers. It prevents any long term issues at ports or in any other terminal. You must record the number on the seal before it leaves site and check it before you break the seal when it arrives at destination. Also check for damage on the seal that might suggest it has been tampered with. If the seal is missing, or has been changed for a new seal, or if it looks like the seal has been tampered with you should ideally report this to us before opening the container up.
If customs want to look inside your container, they will break your seal and replace with their own customs seal. If required you should be able to contact the customers office that broke the seal to check their records of the seal number that they broke before taking a look inside.
In reality is often natural to expect the red carpet service when shelling out a large amount of money, but bear in mind if you’ve paid $5000 for your shipment, that’s less than 5 seconds revenue for the shipping lines.
You are working with a very process heavy industry, what may seem like a reasonable request to you may well be impossible for us to accommodate. Once your container is closed and sealed and has left your site, you cannot see it again until it arrives at its destination.
Common requests and issues we see are:
No you can’t.
Once trucks have left site, the box cannot be opened again. if a truck is required to return to site to be opened a charge will be added for this service. The administrative burden on the chain, the need to ensure security, issues over breaking the seal and re-sealing the container once it has left site, and potential risk that the driver gets blamed for this means that this request is looked at on a case by case basis.
Once the container is at the port, the terminal will never let members of the public onto the quay.
.
If there is time available, this is an option but charges will be added if it doesn't effect the truck schedule on that day.
It may seems like an easy request if they are there with you, but trucks can load up to 4 containers a day and the schedule may not allow it.
Loading at multiple sites will be fine, if requested at the time of your quote (or formally requested afterwards which will probably add a small additional cost to the job) – but last minute request will be looked at as and when it is made.
We can offer many types of loading. Whether the loading site has a loading dock or whether you need a Hiab truck or containerlift to place this to the ground so it can be loaded is up to you.
Open top containers are also available as well as flat rack for oversize items.
We specialise in oversize machinery and can organise permits, transport and shipping to anywhere in the world regardless of the size of your items!
All goods heading out of the UK are VAT exempt.
This means that when you buy the goods you still have to pay the VAT, but if you can provide a proof of export for these goods then you can reclaim all VAT on the goods and any associated transport.
Normally, you will have to claim back the VAT directly from the company you have purchased the goods from, and they must of course be VAT registered. You will need a copy of your VAT invoice, and these goods will have to show on your export documentation (the bill of lading document)
The supplier will want to see a copy of your bill of lading document and this will allow them to refund any VAT as long as the item they have sold to you is clearly listed.
Air freight is by far, the most expensive option but the fastest. Shipments can be collected and delivered within 24 hours but this comes at a cost. It the item isnt urgent, road or sea will be far cheaper. Some items cannot go by air due to the size or the type of items you may have so its worth checking that restrictions will not apply before promising air shipment to your customer.
MSE International Freight
Terms and conditions are available on request.
Copyright © 2024 MSE International Freight - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy