Relocating to Cambodia

[Ciaran Mc]

I will be moving to Phnom Penh at the end of the month and was wondering if anyone has any experience of moving their personal belongings from Bangkok to Phnom Penh ?

Any forwarding or removal companies people might recommend ?

Most of what we plan (hope) to ship can be packed quite easily in boxes: DVDs and CDs, Books, Computer and speakers, some kitchenware, bedding and clothes and shoes.
What may be slightly more difficult to pack are 42" LED TV, Bicycle, Bookcase and CD racks.

Are there any potential issues/problems with tax or duty when bringing goods into Cambodia.

Do goods tend to be transported by road or sea ?

Thanks in advance for any advice or pointers !!

[Tomtomtom69]

For transport from Thailand to Cambodia - can't see anybody moving goods by sea, everything would be done overland as it's much faster and we're only talking a distance of a few hundred km's.

You could try talking to an international freight forwarding company with offices in both Thailand and Cambodia such as Allied Pickfords, Toll or even DHL etc. for assistance. Depending on how much stuff you have, you might consider driving over to Thailand your Cambodian registered car (pickup truck) if you have one as going in the other direction you'll probably find Thai cars have difficulty entering Cambodia at some checkpoints - then loading everything onto your pickup and driving it to Phnom Penh. Otherwise, hiring a truck to drive to the border and then using Cambodians to cart your goods across, followed by a pickup on the Cambodian side would work too. I think if you're willing to spend a few hundred dollars you could hire say 2 pickup trucks from Asia Vehicle Rental based in Phnom Penh, who would meet you at the Poipet border and after your goods are safely on the Cambodian side you can load them up and they would drive you to Phnom Penh. Or for $75 per car (negotiable) you can rent an old Camry or for slightly more a pickup to transport your goods to Phnom Penh from Poipet - just ask around shortly after immigration. All of this can easily be done in one day - just plan to start early from Bangkok.

Anyway there are a lot of options as you can see. Using the cart method I have described, you don't have to worry about taxes. I suspect if you use an official method such as using a registered freight forwarding company import taxes would have to be paid on some of your goods but otherwise you don't have to worry. I have used the cart guys before to transport 100kg of agricultural goods across the border and it was easy peasy because no inspections of goods are made between the Thai and Cambodian borders - all you need is pay a few $ or Baht to each Cambodian cart guy and they'll take care of everything.

[Ciaran Mc]

I had thought transporting the stuff by road would have been the easiest, cheapest and most straight forward of doing it .. But it appears if I want to do it officially most companies ship by sea !!

[Tomtomtom69]

I had thought transporting the stuff by road would have been the easiest, cheapest and most straight forward of doing it .. But it appears if I want to do it officially most companies ship by sea !!

Yes but do you have that much stuff? If I were you, I'd choose one of the methods I have mentioned. Using traders to cart your stuff across the border might sound pretty brazen, but this is developing Asia, that's how they do things here. Unfortunately you can't just rent a big huge van from Avis Thailand, load it up with all your stuff and drive it to Cambodia - Thai rental cars aren't allowed to leave the country and Avis Thailand wouldn't dream of allowing their cars to drive into Cambodia.

[theoldgit]

Offensive comment removed.

[Ciaran Mc]

I had thought transporting the stuff by road would have been the easiest, cheapest and most straight forward of doing it .. But it appears if I want to do it officially most companies ship by sea !!

Yes but do you have that much stuff? If I were you, I'd choose one of the methods I have mentioned. Using traders to cart your stuff across the border might sound pretty brazen, but this is developing Asia, that's how they do things here. Unfortunately you can't just rent a big huge van from Avis Thailand, load it up with all your stuff and drive it to Cambodia - Thai rental cars aren't allowed to leave the country and Avis Thailand wouldn't dream of allowing their cars to drive into Cambodia.

well i didn't think i had that much stuff, but nearly fell of my chair when i saw what was being quoted for shipping my stuff to Phnom Penh ... A hell of a lot more than I expected.

Initial thoughts had been to hire a pick up or van and driver .. load it up and get them to drive to Phnom Penh, but unfortunately doesn't appear to be that easy.

The problem/issue that I see with your "cart" system is actually getting the goods across the border. Everything that we are moving is personal belongings and we have been assured that there is no tax or duty liable. However, is it really that easy to just physically move your stuff from 1 vehicle to another at a border crossing ??

[hanno]

When I moved from Vietnam to Cambodia, I also assumed my stuff would go by road (600 kilometers between the two places). Alas, all went by boat through Sihanoukville where my boxes sat for a month as customs was "busy" (whilst bribes were negotiated).

[UASCB500BIKER]

Hi me to moving to Cambodia, crossing the border at Trat. Have 3 suitcases and load of camping gear on a CB500F motorcycle. No Taxes, No unpacking the Bike, No problems, maybe in and out in less then hour. Great Information....Bye,,,,Bye in June...  Cam  Govr,  bike insurane ?