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CUSTOMS GUIDE - USA
Excess Baggage Company has compiled this information sheet to help you to understand what happens when you ship your personal effects to the USA, and to inform you of procedures once your shipment arrives at the relevant port of entry. The sheet describes what you can do to help with the clearance of your goods through Customs, so please try and take time to read the information. Do call us or our US agents if you require further clarification of any of the points outlined below - 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
Freight Charges
Airfreight Option
On Arrival
Customs Clearance
Loading & Transit
If you are shipping a large household removal which will fill a whole shipping container, it will be shipped to the nearest port of entry to your residence. Otherwise, your shipment will travel by a consolidated 'groupage' service, which usually be shipped through one of the following main ports of entry - New York, Miami, or Los Angeles. There are of course, many other ports on both the Eastern and Western seaboards, but because we have long-standing associations, and also excellent working relationships with reputable and reliable agents in these three ports, most of our 'groupage' containers will be consigned to our agents at these ports for Customs clearance and delivery or on-carriage to inland destinations. Also, because these ports are amongst the largest, freight can be consolidated more quickly for them than for many other points of entry to the USA.
These consolidated 'groupage' services are shipping containers that are loaded with other personal effects shipments such as your own. When there are sufficient goods to fill a container, it is then loaded and booked on a vessel. This consolidation of shipments usually takes between one and four weeks depending on how much cargo is already available for the appropriate port of entry, and may vary during busy or quiet periods.
The actual sailing times vary between just under two weeks for New York to about four or five weeks for Los Angeles. The length of time required for Customs clearance and delivery to your final destination depends on the distance you live from the port of entry. For instance, after your shipment has cleared Customs, you would have to allow longer for a delivery to say Illinois or Arizona, than you would if your shipment is for delivery in central Los Angeles or New York. Taking into account the consolidation period, the sailing time and the period required for arranging delivery, you can expect a total transit time of between about four and six weeks to a New York area residence, seven and nine weeks to a Los Angeles residence (San Francisco is served by our Los Angeles containers and takes an extra week), and somewhere between about eight and ten weeks for an inland destination such as Kansas or Colorado.
Freight Charges
Although we do offer services to 'arrival port only' to Miami, New York and Los Angeles (and also San Francisco via Los Angeles), we will normally quote you for door to door service. It is to very much to your advantage to ship your goods on a door to door basis, as this means you do not then have to pay in America for the various port charges, container unloading, notification, Customs clearance, and delivery to residence.
We are a bulk buyer of destination services and we obtain these services at a rate less than a member of the public can expect to pay. Consequently, you will find that in most cases it is more expensive to ship to 'arrival port' and then pay the destination charges, than it is to pay initially for door to door shipment.
Note that the term 'arrival port' is a shipping term that refers to the point to which freight charges have been paid. It does not mean you can collect your goods directly at the port to do your own Customs clearance. The whole container is consigned to our destination agent who pays the port charges to enable collection from the wharf, and arranges haulage to a Customs bonded depot for unloading. If you have paid for a door to door shipment, the costs of uplifting the container from the wharf, haulage to depot, unloading, notification, Customs clearance, and delivery to your residence are included in your payment.
Air Freight Option
There are hundreds of transatlantic flights every week, and because of competition for cargo between the airlines, there are now some very attractive air-freight rates available to the United States. Air-freight charges are based on weight, although size is taken into consideration (*see below) for light but bulky items. If your shipment is a small one - under about 35kg (approx. 80lbs) in weight, it may cost about the same, or even actually be cheaper depending on the destination, to send it door to door by air.
If you have such a shipment, and are considering sending it by air, just call us for a quotation. As well as the possibility of air-freight being cheaper than sea-freight for the smaller shipment, there is the benefit of a faster transit time - usually between five and ten days to most US destinations. If you want to make a further saving, we offer another service to 'arrival airport' only. This means you can collect your shipment from the receiving agent at the airport. On this service to 'arrival airport,' there will be a fee for airline handling and unloading which must be paid to the destination agent when you collect your goods.
(*) The size consideration for air-freight charges is decreed by the airlines' controlling body IATA, and is called 'volumetric weight.' This is a minimum weight which will be charged for any particular size of item. To calculate it, measure each item in centimetres, multiply the length, width and height, and then divide by 6000. This gives the minimum chargeable weight in kilograms for the shipment. For example, our standard size 'tea-carton' measures 61 x 51 x 41 centimetres. When multiplied together and then divided by 6000, this gives 21kg as the volumetric (minimum chargeable) weight. Our staff will weigh and measure your shipment on collection, and it will be charged on whichever is higher, the actual or volumetric weight.
In practice, about 90% of air-freight is charged on the actual weight. It is when you air-freight items that are fairly light for their size that the volumetric weight may be charged for.
On Arrival
As soon as we load a sea-freight container, we send a 'pre-alert' advice to our agent at the port of entry. This means that when you call them, they can tell you when your shipment is due to arrive. Shortly before the vessel is due to arrive at the port, an arrival notification will be sent to you together with any documents which may be required for Customs clearance which you have not yet completed. Our agent will arrange to have the container uplifted from the wharf and hauled to their Customs bonded depot, where your shipment will be cleared through Customs.
Customs Clearance
All shipments entering the United States must be cleared through Customs. There are some documents which we will supply you with that you must complete for your goods to clear Customs. Once you have completed them, we forward them to the destination agent with the container manifest.
The first of these documents is called a Power of Attorney. This is a form which empowers the destination agent or his appointed Customs broker to act as your representative, and to make statements and present documents to Customs on your behalf. The main form for clearance is the 'Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles' also known as Customs form 3299. On this form you declare your own personal details, residency status, and other information about your shipment. The third form is the 'Supplemental Declaration' on which you give further details about your citizenship, your U.S. and overseas addresses, passport and/or Social security number and if applicable, your employment details. Together with these forms you should complete a packing list or inventory. If your shipment is an owner-packed shipment, we will supply you with a packing list form on which you list the goods in your shipment. If your shipment is a household removal including professional packing, our packers will make an inventory for you at the time of the removal.
At some ports, Customs will request copies of either your Social security number or your passport. We recommend that you attach to your Customs documents a copy of either of these, and if required, our agent will present it to Customs with the remainder of the documents. Passport copies should include the pages with your personal details, and Visa page (if applicable). All the documents described here can also be completed on arrival in the U.S. and will be sent to you by our agent if you have not already completed them, but it does assist with speedy Customs clearance if you fill them out before shipment.
We supply all the necessary documents as a set, complete with an advice sheet to help you complete them. Please give us a call if you require some.
Finally, please feel free to call us or our any of our agents in the United States if you require any further advice on any aspect of your shipment. Remember also that our agents will be able to help you should you require shipping services after you have arrived. Please call us for full details of our US agents and their locations.
All information on this sheet 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.
USA Documentation Airfreight / Seafreight NEW!
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