Costs of Importing Non-EU Goods to UK via Sea Port Vs Airport.?

Question

Must I employ an 'agent' to clear goods imported via a UK sea port - at considerable cost on top of VAT and import duty - due to 'security' issues? Or can I just pitch up with the van, pay my customs fees, load it up and go?

I had this at LHR a while back when I wanted to collect something direct from the shipping company and couldn't because I was not security validated. I then had to pay a agent to do it for me and (of course) they charged an arm and a leg for the privilege.

Answer 1

Yes you do need a shipping agent and it need not cost an arm and a leg.

When you ship or send any goods by sea or airfrieght under international law a bill of lading is created for seafreight shipments or airway bill for air consignments - within this document a "notify party" needs to be identified - this is a shipping agent who can process the consignment through customs for you.

The key is to use a consolidator to handle the shipping for you - unless you are shipping full containers this is by far the best way of moving goods into this country, who you use would depend on where you are shipping the goods from.  Then they can handle the clearance of the goods on your behalf along with everyone else who also has anything inside the container.

You cannot just turn up at the port and pick up the goods yourself - the port authorities will only deal with freight forwarders that are registered with them and customs.  

Put this into context your average vessel is going to contain something like 10,000 shipping containers and it can take 7 - 10 days from when the ship arrives before all those containers have been unloaded, cleared customs and collected by the frieght forwarder  - the containers themselves cannot be opened until they have been collected from the port and delivered to the frieght forwarders warehouse (normally in the vicinity of the port). This is why you need an agent and why only agents can handle this process.

Answer 2

pitch up your van, pay my customs fees, load it up and go they are rather relaxed over that side