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CUSTOMS GUIDE - MALAYSIA
Excess Baggage Company has compiled this information sheet to help you to understand what happens when you ship your personal effects to Malaysia, and to inform you of procedures once your shipment arrives at the destination port. The sheet contains important advice which will help with the smooth shipment and clearance of your goods through Customs. Please try and take time to read it, and if you need further advice or information, please do call us or our agent in Malaysia - we are all available to help you.
This information is provided without obligation and at the individual's risk. We accept no responsibility for any inaccuracy of whatever nature.
Loading & Transit
Penang, Sarawak & Sabah
On Arrival
Freight & Destination Charges
Other Charges
Customs Clearance - Consignee Present
Customs Clearance - Consignee Absent
Prohibited Goods
Delivery or On-carriage
Loading and Transit
If your shipment is destined for mainland West Malaysia, it will be shipped by what is known as a 'groupage' service to the main port of entry, Port Kelang. This 'groupage' service is a shipping container that is loaded with other personal effects shipments such as your own. When there are sufficient goods to fill the container, it is then booked on a vessel. This consolidation of shipments usually takes between one and four weeks depending on how much cargo is already available, and it may vary during busy or quiet periods throughout the year. The actual vessel sailing time to Port Kelang is usually between three and four weeks. Taking the consolidation period and sailing time together, your goods will usually arrive at Port Kelang some time between five and eight weeks after we receive them. You must then allow some time for unloading, Customs clearance and for our agent to make delivery arrangements. This average transit time is subject to sailing dates which may sometimes be changed by the shipping lines without prior notification. Vessels can occasionally be held up due to port congestion or other delays, so please take this into account if you require your goods in Malaysia by a particular date.
Penang, Sarawak & Sabah
In addition to our main service to Port Kelang, we also offer a service to 'arrival port' Penang. Although Penang is a port in its own right, there are not enough personal effects shipments for Penang to allow consolidation of full containers within a reasonable period of time. Therefore, to avoid any delays we load Penang shipments in our Port Kelang containers. Our Kuala Lumpur agent then arranges the overland transportation of the shipments from Port Kelang to a depot in Penang. The 'linehaul' charge for moving the goods overland to Penang is covered by us, but if you have paid to 'arrival port' Penang only, you will have to pay the normal port charges, which would apply as if the shipment had arrived directly at Penang port. We also offer door to port services to Sarawak where we serve the ports of Kuching, Sibu and Miri, and to Sabah where we serve Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. These shipments to Sarawak and Sabah are not always shipped through Port Kelang, as this is not cost-effective when volumes are small. Instead, shipments for Sarawak and Sabah are sometimes sent by an LCL (less than container load) service through Singapore on individual Bills of Lading. On these occasions, they are not handled by our Kuala Lumpur agent, but by a local agent at the port of arrival, and we will send you an Original Bill of Lading by airmail to your East Malaysian address. It is therefore important that you give us your correct postal address, so if you have a PO box number, please give us this as well as your street address. The Bill of Lading is a special document which means that only you will be able to receive the shipment when it arrives at the port. (Note: Clients whose shipments do go through Port Kelang, do not require a Bill of Lading. For these shipments, there is only one Bill which covers the whole groupage container, and this is sent by us to our agent.)
On Arrival
As soon as we load a container for Port Kelang, we send a 'pre-alert' advice to our agent in Kuala Lumpur. When you call them, they can tell you which vessel your goods are on, and when they are due to arrive. Shortly before the vessel arrives at Port Kelang, you will be contacted by our agent, initially by telephone, and then with a supplementary arrival notification sent by mail. You must therefore ensure that you have given us your full destination address, your home telephone number, and if possible, a day-time or business telephone number. If you are a migrant, please give us the name, address, telephone and fax numbers of the company or organisation with which you will be working. When the vessel arrives at Port Kelang, our agent will pay the port and shipping line charges which must be met to allow the container to be uplifted from the wharf. They will arrange for it to be hauled under bond to a Customs depot for unloading. Customs clearance will take place at this depot, and once your shipment has been cleared, it can be collected, or if you have paid for a door to door service, delivery can then be arranged.
Freight & Destination Charges
DOOR TO DOOR:
We offer a door to door service to West Malaysia, and recommend that you consider taking this option. If you do use our door to door service, charges for all the following destination services over and above the shipping costs are included in your payment - port charges, shipping line charges, THC (terminal handling charge), unloading, notification, documentation, Customs examination and clearance, delivery to residence, and for household removal shipments (but not baggage shipments) unpacking and removal of packaging debris. There are some charges not included in a door to door service that may apply in certain cases, and these are described below.
DOOR TO PORT:
If you have shipped your goods to 'arrival port' only, you will have to pay some of the above-mentioned charges when your goods arrive at the port. These charges are presented in the form of an Agency and Delivery Order Fee which is currently RM 65.00, together with another fee, the LCL charge, which relates to the size of your shipment. This fee is currently about RM 26.00 per cubic metre (1 cubic metre equals 35 cubic feet). The minimum LCL charge is for one cubic metre. These charges on 'arrival port' shipments apply no matter which UK company you ship through, and do not include Customs clearance and delivery to residence. If you decide on arrival that you wish our agent to do the Customs clearance and delivery, they will be happy to quote you for this. As with door to door shipments, please see below for details of other charges which may apply in certain cases.
Other Charges
As is the case with all personal effects shipments to any country, Customs duties and taxes are not included in any shipping charges. This is also true of Malaysia, where duty and taxes may be levied on goods less than six months old. If you have such items, you may be asked for documentary evidence of their value, such as invoices, sales receipts, or insurance papers. If all your goods are personal and household effects owned and used for over six months, you should not have any duty or tax to pay.
All electrical goods entering Malaysia require an Electrical Permit which is issued by the National Electricity Board. There is a fee of RM 50.00 for this permit, and our agent will apply for the permit on your behalf. The one permit covers all electrical items in your shipment. Before your goods are packed, it will greatly assist if you make a list of all electrical items being shipped, their make, model, country of origin, voltage and if applicable, the serial number. This list should be attached to your packing list or inventory to help our agent with the application for the permit. Telephones and fax machines require a Communications Permit which is issued in similar fashion to the Electrical Permit, so please list full details of any such items in your shipment.
If you are shipping video tapes, they will be viewed by the Film Censorship Board, and a fee of between RM 10.00 and RM 35.00 per tape will be levied by the Board depending on the length of the tape. Please note that for full information on Customs regulations and procedures, you should contact Malaysian Customs directly.
Customs Clearance - Consignee Present
When you are notified of the forthcoming arrival of your shipment at Port Kelang, our agent will invite you to visit their Kuala Lumpur office to complete some Customs documents. Take your passport with you. If you are a returning Malaysian citizen, Customs will want to see any stamps for your first UK entry, last entry to Malaysia, and any student visa. If you are a migrant, they will need to see your Malaysian visa and your entry stamp. If you live elsewhere in West Malaysia other than Kuala Lumpur, Customs documents will be sent to you by mail. You must complete them and return then them to our Kuala Lumpur agent, together with a full copy of your passport. If you have paid for a door to door shipment, Customs clearance is included your payment, and our agent will present the documents to Customs on your behalf. Note that if you are shipping your goods to one of the East Malaysian ports in Sarawak or Sabah by LCL service, our Kuala Lumpur agent does not handle these shipments, and clearance will be done locally at the port of arrival. For these shipments, contact the port agent whose name will be shown on your Bill of Lading for information on clearance procedures.
Customs Clearance - Consignee Absent
You may be shipping your personal effects to arrive in Malaysia before you get there yourself. There is no problem with this, but there are different procedures for Customs clearance, of which you should make careful note. Personal effects are viewed by Customs as being the personal possessions of one person who is usually both shipper and consignee. This means you should ensure that you consign the goods to yourself, even though you may not expect to be present in Malaysia when the shipment arrives. If you are having a friend or family member look after your shipment on arrival, consign it to yourself, care of the person receiving the shipment. For this person to sign documents for you, you will have to write a letter authorising them to receive your goods and act on your behalf. You will also have to supply a full copy of your passport, and a packing list. You can either pass all these documents to us for forwarding to our agent, or you can mail them to the person receiving your shipment.
To summarise, if you will not be present when your goods arrive, there may be problems clearing them unless you do the following:
1) Complete a packing list.
2) Consign the goods to yourself.
3) Write a letter of authorisation.
4) Copy your passport.
5) Either give the documents to us, and we will send them by courier to our agent, or mail them yourself to the person receiving your goods.
Clients shipping to Sarawak or Sabah should send these documents directly to the person receiving the shipment for them, as our Kuala Lumpur agent does not always handle these shipments. If you do not follow these procedures, there may be a delay in clearing your shipment through Customs, and if this happens a charge may be made for Customs bond storage.
Prohibited Goods
The import of alcohol is prohibited. Any alcohol discovered by Customs will be impounded, and the importer may be subject to a fine. Pornographic or obscene magazines or videos will also be confiscated, with the importer again liable to a fine. Remember that videos will be screened prior to release. There are also prohibitions on the import of foodstuffs, knives and firearms. Customs have the right to make full inspection of any shipment, and we strongly recommend that you do not attempt to import any prohibited items.
Delivery or On-carriage
Shipments will normally clear Customs around 8 to 12 days after the vessel's arrival date at Port Kelang. This may take a bit longer during the monsoon or festive seasons. When your shipment has cleared Customs it is then ready for collection, or if you have paid for our door to door service, delivery can then be arranged with you. Deliveries to residences in Kuala Lumpur or other places in Selangor can be arranged at fairly short notice after clearance.
If your shipment terms are 'paid to arrival port Penang,' our agent will arrange transportation to a depot in Penang. The overland transport cost for this is covered in your payment for shipping charges. Deliveries to other main cities such as Seremban, Ipoh, Melaka and Johor Baharu will normally be consolidated, which means the agent will put several shipments together for transportation, and you should allow an extra few days for this. Deliveries to outlying areas will be arranged as quickly as possible, but are occasionally subject to delays during the monsoon seasons.
We hope that you find the above information useful. Please don't hesitate to call us if you require any further information or advice on any aspect of your shipment, or if you would like full details of our Malaysian agent.
All information on this page is given for guidance only, and although we believe it to be correct at the time of writing, we do not accept any liability for errors, omissions, inaccuracies or misinterpretation. All charges, regulations and procedures are liable to change without notice.
Malaysian Documentation Airfreight / Seafreight
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