shipping a container to Thailand

[phatmax]

With all the newly-arrived farang in UT, there must be a few of you who've shipped a container of your personal possessions to Thailand. I'd like to hear about your experience;
- what was it like getting it out of Customs? how much was tea money?
- what agent in BKK did you use?
- what shipping company did you use?
- did you register the container in your name or your Thai wife's name?
- what was the cost of shipment and door-to-door delivery?

cheers,
phatmax

[MALC]

my mate brought one over last year if u pm me i will give u his no then he can fill u in with details

[Shado]

You might take a look at this existing thread on Udon Map to get you started.

http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/p ... t=shipping container#p92031

[Funman]

OK, I have a question. Does anybody know of reliable shipping company for shipping from the west coast of the USA (Port of Oakland, CA.) to Laem Chabang? Not having much luck (none) finding one on the net from that side of the world and this side..

[Khun Paul]

When I shipped I used an English Company called Britannia removals and shippers, they handled everything door to door, dealt with customs etc and delivered me all my stuff, BUT I had to have a full years visa, address that had been verified.
They DID not begin to ship until they had copies of that in their possession.
Certain rules were made regarding gardening equipment and any stuff that could of deterioated apart from that no probs, I do believe that they had international contacts anywhere in the world so they may be an answer to your problems.

[Funman]

OK thanks Paul.

[phatmax]

Khun Paul, did Customs open your container and go through your stuff to make sure there was no gardening equipment?

Do you remember the name of Thai side agent company?

What kind of Customs fee did you have to pay?

cheers
phatmax

Certain rules were made regarding gardening equipment and any stuff that could of deterioated

[Khun Paul]

I do feel that in respecrt of the gardening equipment, I cleaned and made sure all the metal parts of the tools were painted with red lead paint, the mower and other equipment was cleaned thoroughly before being packed up.
The customs to my knowledge did not even open the container as it was sealed by British Customs and therefore unless the Thai customs had reason to open it ( ie, drugs, smuggling etc) it remained closed.
I cannot for the life of me remember the Thai company, but it was a coy used by Britannia over here and they were very professional.
I do however remember that is was benifical to have a small container in which about 2.5 % was just packing as they stated that a whole large or small container was easier to ship and pass through Customs as they 9Britannia) would then guarantee the whole contents, whereas if you ship a pallet or two you are part of a container and therefore subject to more stringent checks as the coy you iuse may not be able to guarantee all contents. many shippers use this method as being maybe cheaper for the customer.
I shipped 7 years ago and Door to Door excluding ins while awaiting the documentation in the UK was a little shy of £5000.
The insurance paid in the UK was storage Insurance, when being shipped insurance is automatically included.

I also remember that when they packed up the stuff it was held in smaller wooden containers which when closed as being full i signed the relevant papers to acknowledge I was the owner and that there was nothing illegal inside.
When it was transferred to a small container by them there was a signature trail for accounting for all the contents, signed by the same guy. obviously they have it down to fine art, hence at the Thai Customs they accepted it all as Household goods, NOT FOR RESALE. cost to me at Customs, just normal processing fee according to the Thai coy, well lets put it ;like this, I paid no more money in cash, just the shipping costs. I did have to go down to BKK tp sign and authenticate the load as mine on paper at least.

Hope that helps, it can be traumatic it is worth paying top money to a reputable shipper to avoid payment here, many will offer to ship, but are at best mediocre, Internationally recognised shipping company may charge you more but it is worth it. I ended up with a crack on a plastic TV surround and a dent in a solid pine bed, apart from that no damage at all. ( even the rum survived intact.

[buellduc]

Hello,

I sent my container from Seoul, South Korea to Udon this year, January. It was done by a Korean relocation company but their partner in Thailand was Schenker. I did it in my wifes name and it was a door-to-door service.

Sea Shipment - Used household goods, quantity 20 CBM in 20' FCL:

Complete Origin Services US$ 1,300
Container haulage US$ 300
Ocean Freight US$ 600
Port charges at origin US$ 170
Complete Destination Services US$ 2,060
Tax in destination US$ 950
Insurance Premium (US$ 41,880) 1,50% US$ 628
Total amount US$ 6,008

They didn't open the container but I paid a huge destination service, so extra money was included.

Hope this information helps!!

[Texpat]

Unkle Sam sent my container from Los Angeles to Udon Thani in 2006. Also door-to-door service. It took 2.5 months.
I paid zero dollars/zero baht. There was no customs fee either. I didn't even have to go to Bangkok to sign for anything.
It was just under 10k pounds -- nothing broken or missing.

[wazza]

Make sure you have your Non Imm O or B visa ,.or its in a Thai's name.

Thats from anything sent from Australia anyway, U need to establish residential status, acccording to the documents i had to sign and declare 3 years ago.

Make sure u have a detailed inventory also, in case its needed , as well as an agreed value .

[ray205]

when we shiped a container from New Zealand to Udon it was in my wife's name, we use Crown Relocations they have offices all the world they came and packed everything and full detail list of contents packed and each box or arctile numbere, so when unpacking at your door each item was check off. we also got them to take the container all the way to udon.
Instead of the transferring the the stuff to into 2 smaller trucks to transport to Udon by doing this it only cost us an xtra 2 days hire of container and for them to transport it on one truck which save them time and money by not using 2 trucks and time to transfer cost was 5000 bhat all up for sealed container del to Udon.

Yes customs did open container but when they seen it was packed full they closed it up, and made us sign paper to say no motor vehcile parts were inside. as when opened all the heavey stuff was packed at opening, which needed many hands etc, 18" Bandsaw, heavy Mig Welder and other stuff along with a dolly for moving the heavy items around.
we had large steel boxes pack full of breakables, and my camera gear, ie tri pods lighting equipment, also at opening which took 4 kiwi guys to move and stack in there, the agent at bangkok said that when customs open the doors and seem all the heavy stuff the closeed it back up and did not want check as they had to move it out of the container and repack.

I would not have problem in recommending Crown Relocations we dealt with one person in NZ and they gave us the agents name before we left and only had to deal with that person the container arrived in Udon with 4 staff to unload and they offered to unpack everything and take away all the packing, we decided to do the unpacking ourselfs at our time.

[FrazeeDK]

Thai Customs website http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/Ho ... =HouseHold

[malloyd1]

Just received my 20ft container from the UK. I used Nightingales in my home town who wrapped and packed all my gear loaded the container and used an International shipping organisation to get the container to Bangkok. Asian Tigers arranged the customs check and all we had to do was send my wife’s Thai Passports to them by EMS (all passports even old cancelled ones as they needed to check all visits back to Thailand). No customs charges as the load was that of a returning Thai National, although it was family stuff, wife 2 kids and myself, including my Golf Clubs, yahoo, now for the retirement I deserve. Asian Tigers unloaded the container, got it through customs and moved the load in a large lorry to my house in Udon Thani. They unpacked all we wanted unpacked, placed everything in the house where we wanted it, built the Bed/Cot etc.. etc.. and removed all the rubbish. Needed an address in Thailand to start the shipping but sent that via email. Nightingales etc did not want any proof of address. Cost was approx £5000 including shipping insurance. Glad I paid for that as my Fridge Freezer was dropped somewhere along the line and I am now waiting for the wheels to grind and hopefully for a replacement. All other delicate items arrived in one piece. Time scale from sending address to Nightingales, them getting customs approval of the address etc to receiving belongings was about 6 weeks. The only down side apart from the damaged Fridge was that the cost of shipping went up after I had left the UK and I had to pay an extra £900 over what I expected. Don't know if you can get a fixed quote but my company said even a fixed quote is only valid for 1 month. They stored my stuff for 8 weeks while we found a place to live. Getting a house first would have been the wise thing but hey that would have meant 2 family trips to Thailand, one to buy the house then back to the UK to pack up the old house then back to Thailand to live. The extra air fare would have been far more than the extra shipping and storage. Hope this helps. It’s persisting down with Rain so no Golf today. Life is sometimes really Sh.t. Mal.

[WBU ALUM]

Being that Thai Customs got me for 36,000 baht for two small boxes of personal effects (mostly used clothing) weighing a total less than 50 kilos, I'd say you guys got a huge bargain.

[billyboy]

I am looking at ways to get my used scaffolding and building equipment from uk to thailand i have a few idears

1 i have a very good Russian friend who has import export business in pattia,he has told me put shipment down as personal and he will handle it this side,the only problem is uk side,the load is obviously for work

2I have some land and have a thai company which i am a director and i have a business visa ,and we are going to start building soon,i am wondering if it is possible to hire the equipment to my thai company ,i can get all the paperwork needed from uk,to cover the hire charges ,therefore,no import duty should apply??

3or dose anyone have any idears or experiences

[ABS-Relocations]

Anyone wants to ship household or other things, can contact me and I will try to help in anyway I can. I been doing household removal for more than 20 years now. Will advertise on this webside soon.
Kind regards
Per

[phatmax]

I had a 20' container shipped from Oakland CA to Thailand about 3 months ago. I did a lot of research online but found information rather spotty. Yes, you can find the "official" documents for importing stuff to Thailand but what I wanted to know were the details from people who had actually done it. So, here goes, some tips from someone who's actually done it!

I used a One Year Non Imm Type O visa (no Thai wife to help me out w/ Customs fees). It was easy to get from The Thai Consulate in Portland OR. I packed my own boxes and had a ton of power tools in wooden crates. I researched shipping companies on the States side and found one I could deal w/ directly. Had them drop off the container at my storage facility and paid guys to load it. Saved a bundle by not going through a Moving Service for this. I documented a Packing List per an example given to me by my Thai Shipping Agent. Nothing too detailed just "3 boxes kitchen utensils", "1 box drill press", " 2 boxes bedding", etc. The Packing List needs to have a column for the Thai translation of the item so you'll have to work w/ your Thai Shipping Agent on it.

Regarding what can and can not be shipped - don't bring any car/motorcycle parts, TV's or air conditioners, these require special clearance from Thai authorities. There are other "sensitive items" like computers so be aware of this (I brought in 2). The shipping companies don't like anything that burns gasoline or diesel packed in containers so you'll need to drain the fuel and oil out of generators, lawnmowers, etc. They also don't like paint or any volatile liquids packed in containers. Don't try to be tricky because according to Urban Legend, the ports now use scanners to scan the contents of containers. HINT, the lock on my container was in tact when it reached me at the final destination (ask your Shipping Agent for details).

After researching a lot of Thai Shipping Agents ahead of time, most of them turned out to be either too flaky or way over-priced. I found a great one through a lead here on Thai Visa. Her name is Jula and she heads up a company called Intermover Thailand (email is contact@intermover-thailand.com). She's very responsive and professional - even when I hit her w/ what seemed like a thousand questions over a 6 month period. She was able to give me lots of sample documents, an accurate time line of what would happen w/ the container, arrange for a truck to haul the container across Thailand. AND to my surprise she negotiated a significant (really significant) reduction in the Customs fee I had to pay. She's absolutely trustworthy, very professional and a delight to work with - I highly recommend her to anyone needing a Thai Shipping Agent.

[ABS-Relocations]

When all paper and visa are Ok you are permitted to bring electric item into Thailand. But only 1 item of each thing without pay import tax and only used items. So no problem bringing TV or Computer etc. The packing/inventory list only have to be in English and in Excel. On the list there have to be. Items – Contents and price. The price is only for custom use only not for insurance, so a good advice is to put the price as low as possible.
100% as a company we don´t pack any flammable or dangerous goods. But I seen customer when they pack themselves putting this items inside the container.