Shipping a container to LOS from UK

[pjuk]

After 20+ years based in the UK but traveling back to Thai at least once a year my Thai wife and myself are finely relocating to LOS.

We want to ship a container with personal goods etc and also commercial catering equipment.

Can anybody please advise as to the best way to go about this. We are shipping to Koh samui but Surat Thani would be OK or we can collect from entry port if we have to.

We've had a restaurant in the UK for many years which is now closing hence the catering equipment.

Can anybody please advise on 'the powers that be' and bring commercial catering equipment into Thai ?

I've been told as my wife has been away from home for so long she can take her car back free of duty is this correct and does this also apply to the tools of her trade ?

And would the kitchen kit be acceptable as tools of her trade ?

Any advice/sensible input welcome plz.

Thanks

PS If this is the wrong forum sorry please move this thread accordingly.

[craigt3365]

For a wider audience, let's move this over to the General forum. We can always more it somewhere else if you want. OK?

Topic Moved.

[Rooo]

The best way is to contact a Thai shipping / clearance agent. From what I understand, your wife can bring in the container duty free.

If you need help, send me PM I can give you a number of the Thai agent I used, you can have a talk to him, at least it's a start.

[Kangaroo29]

Google Pilot Air Cargo in BKK and speak to Christopher (from Germany) and explain the scenario & keep tabs via email ...absolutely fantastic guy and service right through the entire process at very fair prices.

[yankee99]

I think the car is out...My friends wife just returned with him after a year overseas they returned with a container no problems but there are some limits and they are listed on the thai customs website...

BTW she did all the customs clearing herself and didnt have any problems in lam chabang..

[Andyfez]

I thought the new rules banned import of all-but new cars?

[Morden]

From memory, a Thai national returning to Thailand can import duty and tax free personal used items. In my experience, the rule isn't followed by the grafting customs officials who hold your property to ransom.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Morden

[marullia]

You can send me an e-mail: removed please PM and I will be able to help you. I am in Bangkok
and have been in the shippng business for many years. I have many contacts in Bangkok that
are in the shipping industry. I am sure I can guide you to the right people and assist you to make
sure you get a good offer.

Thank you

Tont Marulli

Edited November 7, 2013 by Crossy
email removed per forum rules

[cheshiremusicman]

The best way is to contact a Thai shipping / clearance agent. From what I understand, your wife can bring in the container duty free.

If you need help, send me PM I can give you a number of the Thai agent I used, you can have a talk to him, at least it's a start.

I used a small London based shipping agent that did an excellent job at very reasonable cost. I think the name was Robinson or something similar, but if you hunt around the London yellow pages I'm sure you'll find them. They had been established about 40 years and advertised themselves as a Family Business. They shipped all my stuff in half of a container for around 1300 Pounds - the cost being so low because the container was shared with another client shipping to Thailand. They spent two days at our house, wrapping and boxing everything before collection in the north of England. We did not insure the shipping and when it arrived at our house here in Thailand we did not have one single broken item. The agent here in Thailand was 'Asian Tigers' from Bangkok and they were fantastic. The container arrived with the seal still unbroken at about 0730 in the morning and some 30 mins later a minibus arrived with 6 uniformed staff, who proceeded to unload all the boxes and unwrap everything. My wife just told them where she wanted everything put and they did it. when the job was finished they removed all the packaging materials and left the house spotlessly clean at around 1500. I cannot recommend this company more highly.

I wish you luck with your shipping. If I can be of any further help just PM me.

[bluemoon58]

Contact a Paul Wilkinson or Craig Sommerville at JVK Movers in Bangkok. They have a website.

I used these for shipping a container from the UK and they were absolutely superb, start to finish, and at a very reasonable price compared to the enquiries I made in the UK. It was door to door service, everything was packed for us on the UK side and everything unpacked on the Thai side including taking all the packing materials away. I couldn't fault them. Mention my name if you contact them. Say it's Pete who they moved from Manchester to Hua Hin.

[tingtongteesood]

My experience was a little different. My mother dealt with the sending as I am here. My stuff came in after 8 weeks travelling and the agent here was some company in Dusit on Wipawaddee Rangsit road, I think the name was 'Cargo Company' ? My stuff was held to ransom and I had to pay the 'bargain' price of 48,000 baht taxes. The delivery driver came about 8pm and his truck was too big to clear the wires into my street so he parked about 50 metres from my building. I had to dump everything at the side of the busy main road by myself and the lazy bastard driver didn't lift a finger to help. When I started carrying the 120 boxes into the building, the apartments boss who was a super good woman started helping and 2 of her gophers joined in to help. I gave her 1000 baht to share between them as thanks. I left packaging that had been ripped off in the back of the truck and lazy bastard started complaining that I have to take that out. There are some real <deleted> sometimes. Next time I shall handle it all myself and research first.....

[srn89]

Did the same thing a few years ago, was not a problem as the goods were shipped in my wife's name and we did not specify any items were commercial, just stated ''no commercial value, personal effects'' ( That included a 5 Ring Chinese Cooker )

Read up as to what is permitted as only 1 of most items are permitted. i.e. Fridge, T.V. etc

I used Maersk, contacted their u.k. office via e mail. they arranged transport of a container to my property. i arranged the loading into the container while it was still on the truck, doors were locked by the driver and away it went.

Make sure you number your boxes for the Bill of Lading, Maersk will post you a copy once they have compiled the correct paperwork, you will need that for Customs clearance in Thailand. You will need a full and comprehensive list of all the goods, keep a couple of copies and photocopies of your Bill of Lading and contents list's.

Make sure that ''All Documents are in your Wifes name''

With regard to your car, don't bother, I had a Lovely Jag which i had put in my Wife's name for the required period for her to Import, according to the Customs web site due to its age she would be able to Import Duty Free, to be on the safe side on a trip back to Thailand she went in to Customs in Bangkok with all the vehicle documents and was told it would cost over 1 Million Baht in Import Duty, so i left the car in the U.K.

You may find your Thai clearing agent is not fully conversant with the Import Regulations and may ask you for money to ''clear your goods quickly. which i think means without the container being opened'' thats your decision if you pay but as your wife's personal effects she can Import Duty Free.

Then ship your container to your house and de-stuff there.

[meatboy]

as i have said before nothing comes free it will be the agent that holds your goods to ransom.and if your wife has a farang surname that will put an extra 10k on.

Edited November 7, 2013 by meatboy

[Anon999]

as i have said before nothing comes free it will be the agent that holds your goods to ransom.and if your wife has a farang surname that will put an extra 10k on.

I didn't have that problem even though I shipped the container in my own name as I had no alternative. Paid the agent for his services, that had been organised by the UK shipping agent and no customs charges or other fees.

Note that Thai drivers only drive, they do not unload or load, at least very rarely, as they are of higher status.

[yankee99]

as i have said before nothing comes free it will be the agent that holds your goods to ransom.and if your wife has a farang surname that will put an extra 10k on.

nonsense ^^^^

[n210mp]

imported my (Thai) lady wife's and all our household goods and personal possessions duty free to Pattaya from the UK in a 20ft container with;

​Global distribution Alliance LTD These were based in Bangkok and Lamshabang

http://www.gda.co.th/cms/

Their manager was a chap called Charles McMurray (USA) and very helpful too

The total cost door to door was just under £1700.00 this was because I was doing it as a cheap charlie and this entailed me having to load the container in the UK within a three hour time frame and unload at destination, ( once again within a three hour time frame ) having said that as I remember Charles had about 4 Thai men come with the lorry to help unload at a very minimal cost.

There were no problems with the customs and in fact we dont think that the container was even unsealed!

By lucky coincidence I went with the right firm who had a good relationship with the Customs department, may be smaller outfits have less clout and consequently more aggro..... I dont know but would definitely recommend GDA for any future business

[sumrit]

Your wife can only bring a container containing second hand household goods back to Thailand duty free.

As an example of how strict Thai customs are/were, when we moved to the UK after i'd spent several years in Thailand we took our golf clubs with us (and they had been purchased in Thailand). When the UK didn't work out for us we returned to Thailand and sent our golf clubs in the container along with all our furniture etc. Thai customs said golf clubs weren't classified as household goods and we had to pay import duty on them, only about 1,000 baht but we still had to pay. They said the fact we'd originally bought them in Thailand, or the fact that we could have carried them on the plane free of duty didn't make any difference. The container was for household goods only and they weren't.

For the record we used a shipping company called Move Corp near Birmingham for the container and they were very good.

[Lucie]

What about shipping the other way (Thailand to UK)? Same companies? Any special procedures I should know about? I actually don't have a load of stuff, I'm thinking only about 2 cubic metres.

[fxe1200]

What about shipping the other way (Thailand to UK)? Same companies? Any special procedures I should know about? I actually don't have a load of stuff, I'm thinking only about 2 cubic metres.

Check Siampickpack and AGS four winds. They have websites and react fast upon your email request. Siampickpack works out of Phuket.

[rwdrwdrwd]

You should certainly import in the wife's name - not doing this will push up the cost far higher since you don't have the right to avoid tax on import of household goods in your own name.

We certainly imported an entire kitchen as household goods.

We used Dynamic International, they were excellent, but do budget for ~15% of the value surcharge applied on the Thai end regardless of rules - even if you have all right to avoid import duty, you still get things like 'scan fees' that are applied as an alternative graft.

For us nothing was opened up at all, it was a huge array of stuff and I guess that since we had the right to not pay import duty (household goods in wife's name) it was a bit of a waste of time for them to pick through everything and assess that everything was household. Instead we received a ~10% 'scan fee' which we'd anticipated.

Edited November 7, 2013 by rwdrwdrwd

[khunPer]

I had 20 feet container shipped from Denmark to Koh Samui a few years back.

I used a Danish company to pack and arrange for transport CIF Bangkok. You should be able to shop around for best freight quotes. I was advised to CIF only and leave custom clearance etc. to a Thai agent.

In accordance with official instructions from the Internet, I did a very specified packing list and all boxes/items numbered and contains marked on the outside, for easy verification in custom clearance.

I used a local agent to custom clear the container and move it Koh Samui on truck. Prices included off-loading at address and return of empty container. I had to go to Bangkok with my passport the day of custom clearance. I paid 4,000 baht extra as so-called “overtime fee” in the morning. At afternoon everything was cleared and a minor bill of duty and vat to be paid. When the container later arrived at Koh Samui and offloaded I could see only one cardboard carton at the very end was slightly opened in a corner – the so-called custom check performed during “overtime”.

The local agent I used is a freight company on the road between Bang Por and Nathon – they are housed in the exclusive furniture shop at the landside of the road after the hill, fairly close to Nathon. There is a, not to big, sign outside with something like “Express”. Very kind service and I found the price reasonable. I do not have any paperwork handy, but I think the name is “Fueng Fah Express”, and in that case the address is: 4169 Road, Nathon, Koh Samui, Surat Thani, 84140. Tel: 077 236 169

Good luck

[Bpuumike]

Need to bring in a shipment from Spain/UK.

How do you assign a value to used household goods?

Serious question.

[khunPer]

Need to bring in a shipment from Spain/UK.

How do you assign a value to used household goods?

Serious question.

I stated a complete value on the shipping and customs documents and gave the shipping agent a print of the packing list with a handwritten fair value for each item; for example TV-set, hi-fi speakers, kitchen oven, etc.; or group of items; for example dinner table and six chairs, CD-collection, book collection, kitchen household items (knifes, forks, spoons, dishes, plates, glass), etc.

You may need to check the actual condition and rules; I found an officinal government homepage with detailed instructions, when I did it my shipping; for example all electronics needed year of manufacture/new and serial number etc. Furthermore only one item of each – ie. 1 TV-set only – as otherwise commercial stuff and subject to duty/vat. I believe well-prepared detailed paperwork and “overtime fee” makes custom clearance easy and duty/vat minor (seems like they will claim some, even one only shipping of personal household shall be without duty and vat – you are also allowed one smaller air freight shipping).

Examples from my packing list:

015. MIXED ITEMS:

38 PCS. 12" VINYL GRAMMOPHONE RECORDS

2 PCS. DISCOGRAPHY BOOKS

8 PCS. PAINTING/SHELF LAMPS

016. PERSONAL OLD FAMILY PHOTOS AND NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS ETC.

020. MIXED ITEMS OF TAPE-RECORDER AND ACCESSORIES:

REEL-TO-REEL TAPE-RECORDER, TASCAM, MODEL: 32, S/N: 630125

SMALL MONITOR AMPLIFIER, TECHNICS, MODEL SU-Z25-E, S/N: 0A2909A219

MANUAL + CONNECTION CABLES + ACCESSORIES

022. CD PLAYER:

CITRONIC, MODEL: CD2 (2003 MODEL), S/N: K1719 A206A 0023

045. BACKING OWEN:

KERVEL, TYPE No. G 3000, S/N: 298967

054. HOUSEHOLD ITEMS:

12 PCS. WHITE POCELAIN DEEP PLATES

6 PCS. SMALL WHITE POCELAIN PLATES

1 PCE. COFFEE GLASS CAN "BODRUM"

1 PCE. SMALL CHERAMIC BOWL

6 PCS. WHITE PORCELAIN COFFE CUPS

5 PCS. SMALL PORTWINE GLASS

A comment to the OP about catering equipment: You may need to check the eventually duty and vat on catering equipment and compare with new stuff price in Thailand.

[meatboy]

as i have said before nothing comes free it will be the agent that holds your goods to ransom.and if your wife has a farang surname that will put an extra 10k on.

nonsense ^^^^

maybe you should read all the stories that have been posted over the past 4yrs.some good and some bad.

seems if you are lucky to get a good agent at your end then you have to have a better one this end.

we only shipped 3cubic mts.from uk.to bkk.bkk to korat.all the wifes personel items after 20yrs.in the uk.

agent this end would not release the goods till 18,000bht.was paid.

take 6,000bht for delivery that leaves 12,000bht.for nonsense^^^^

what does this word mean?

[yankee99]

as i have said before nothing comes free it will be the agent that holds your goods to ransom.and if your wife has a farang surname that will put an extra 10k on.

nonsense ^^^^

maybe you should read all the stories that have been posted over the past 4yrs.some good and some bad.

seems if you are lucky to get a good agent at your end then you have to have a better one this end.

we only shipped 3cubic mts.from uk.to bkk.bkk to korat.all the wifes personel items after 20yrs.in the uk.

agent this end would not release the goods till 18,000bht.was paid.

take 6,000bht for delivery that leaves 12,000bht.for nonsense^^^^

what does this word mean?

Maybe you should phrase your statement as there is a possibility and ymmv.

"as i have said before nothing comes free it will be the agent that holds your goods to ransom.and if your wife has a farang surname that will put an extra 10k on."

Our container arrived and was in a thai/falang name and there was not a extra 10,000 baht charge. In fact the only extra charges were for storage and overtime which were minimal.

Maybe you should look at all the above post of people that successfully imported without any issues...

[Rooo]

http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/individuals/importing+used+or+secondhand+household+effects/importingusedsecondhandhouseholdeffects+

[Bpuumike]

http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connect/custen/individuals/importing+used+or+secondhand+household+effects/importingusedsecondhandhouseholdeffects+

Excellent link, that's why mods are such lol

[pjuk]

Thanks everybody for your great input. Lots of help.

Especially Khun Per. Good info thanks. I'll buy you a beer or three. Lookout for 'pensioners Corner' opening in Thong Krut in about 6 months.

[meatboy]

as i have said before nothing comes free it will be the agent that holds your goods to ransom.and if your wife has a farang surname that will put an extra 10k on.

nonsense ^^^^

maybe you should read all the stories that have been posted over the past 4yrs.some good and some bad.

seems if you are lucky to get a good agent at your end then you have to have a better one this end.

we only shipped 3cubic mts.from uk.to bkk.bkk to korat.all the wifes personel items after 20yrs.in the uk.

agent this end would not release the goods till 18,000bht.was paid.

take 6,000bht for delivery that leaves 12,000bht.for nonsense^^^^

what does this word mean?

Maybe you should phrase your statement as there is a possibility and ymmv.

"as i have said before nothing comes free it will be the agent that holds your goods to ransom.and if your wife has a farang surname that will put an extra 10k on."

Our container arrived and was in a thai/falang name and there was not a extra 10,000 baht charge. In fact the only extra charges were for storage and overtime which were minimal.

Maybe you should look at all the above post of people that successfully imported without any issues...

and your agent was?

[yankee99]

laem chabang imex^^^^

Edited November 9, 2013 by yankee99