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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS – EXPORT FROM THE USA

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1. What should I know when ship a vehicle overseas?
2. How it works? What should I expect step by step?
3. A sample of destination charges on vehicles in Germany

1. What should I know when ship a vehicle overseas? / Back to ship vehicles overseas | Back to Export from the USA

Please click on this link for general information on shipping vehicles overseas http://www.oceanfreightusa.com/ser_veh.php

2. How it works? What should I expect step by step? / Back to ship vehicles overseas | Back to Export from the USA

IMPORTANT!: Before you involve in an international shipment that contains a motor-vehicle (car, truck, motorcycle, motor-boat etc) make sure you will be able to furnish the original title at a time of submitting the vehicle to the shipment. MOTOR VEHICLE(S) WITHOUT THE ORIGINAL TITLE(S) CANNOT BE ACCEPTED TO THE INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENT. This is the mandatory U.S. Customs requirement.

Seven steps that you should be aware of:

1st STEP – ASK US ABOUT A POSSIBILITY TO SHIP YOUR VEHICLE(S) BY FILLING OUT THIS SECURE ONLINE FORM

Number of cars per container depends on sizes of cars being consolidated in the container. Please provide us with complete information on your shipment when request a quote/rate confirmation by filling out this secure online form. Notice -- we do not provide rates quotations and consolidation options over the phone.

Having this info from you we will re-confirm our current possibility to arrange your shipment. Then you will ask us to proceed with your shipment or cancel your booking.

2nd STEP – FIRST-TIME CUSTOMERS PAY A SECURITY DEPOSIT

After submitting your booking request online you will receive our e-mail with a Reference# on your shipment and:

If it is your first shipment with us, then you will receive our e-mail with request to pay a security deposit. Typically this deposit is $160. However, in certain circumstances we may ask you to pay 50-100% deposit on your total ocean freight in order to proceed with your request.

The deposit will be applied to the final cost of your shipment. Consider this e-mail an invoice on your deposit.

We accept major credit cards online, business and personal checks, money orders and wire transfers. Please review our Payment Conditions on shipping vehicles and Return Policy.

Customers who already have an account with us should disregard this deposit request. They wait for our e-mail with shipping instructions and after that for our final invoice.

3rd STEP – RECEIVE SHIPPING INSTRUCTIONS IN E-MAIL. SUBMIT YOUR DOCUMENTS.

If you want us to proceed with your shipment, we may need up to five business days from the day of booking in order to schedule your shipment.

For new customers time counts from the day of receiving funds on our security deposit request. After we will receive the deposit, we send to the payer confirmation e-mail. Consider that e-mail a receipt for your paid deposit.

Then you will receive our e-mail with Dock Receipt with shipping instructions on your shipment. These Dock Receipt will contain:

Our Reference No. and information on your prospect bill of lading. Check it out. Contact us if any changes are necessary in email (no verbal corrections will be accepted) ASAP.

Notice: In carrier’s bill of lading your car(s) may be consigned to our destination agent (if available). Then your consignee (recipient) information will be submitted directly to the agent in supplemental documents. However essential information on your car (make, mode, year, VIN and ITN) will be included in your bill of lading. Car(s) will be released at the destination by the agent upon your bill of lading and a photo ID (passport, driver license etc) proving your consignee.
Loading terminal address & phone# (if vehicles will be self-delivered to carriers’ ship terminal) or

If vehicle(s) required to be picked up at a designated by you location, then a trucking company responsible on this pickup(s) should contact the pickup location(s) in advance. However, in order to avoid delays or/and attempt pickup charges, make sure that pickup contact information submitted by you in your booking request form online is complete in correct.

In certain circumstances Power of Attorney (POA) on pickup of your vehicle(s) may require. We will inform you in advance if POA be necessary. This POA has to be completed, undersigned by you and returned back to us in a file attached or via fax.
REQUEST TO SUBMIT TO US A COPY OF YOUR TITLE(S) IN A FILE ATTACHED OR VIA FAX 386-868-0360.
Sailing details on your shipment (if available at a time of pickup or delivery) including:
-- Ocean Carriers Booking No.;
-- ETD - Estimated Time of Departure
-- ETA - Estimated Time of Arrival
-- Vessel, Voyage, Routing

Follow instructions in our Dock Receipt. Failure to following these instructions may result to problems, delays and/or extra charges on your shipment.

IMPORTANT! ORIGIN TITLE(S) MUST BE SUBMITTED TO OUR LOADING WAREHOUSE REPRESENTATIVE AT A TIME OF DELIVERY or TO A PICKUP DRIVER AT A TIME OF PICKUP or MAILED TO US IN ADVANCE. VEHICLES WITHOUT ORIGINAL TITLES CANNOT BE ACCEPTED TO THE SHIPMENT. You should been reading about GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE SERVICE on U.S. Customs formalities, titles, storage etc in this previous page.

4th STEP: PAY THE FINAL INVOICE AND HAVE YOUR VEHICLE(S) SAILED TO THE DESTINATION.

After your car(s) are loaded in the container and ocean carrier confirmed acceptance your vehicle(s) to the international shipment we will e-mail to you our final invoice with total charges on your shipment less the security deposit that you had paid already.

Upon you payment we will e-mail you a confirmation on your final payment, release your vehicle(s) to the international shipment from the origin and your vehicles depart as scheduled.

5th STEP: RECEIVE YOUR BILL OF LADING

In few days after Estimated Time of Departure (ETD) (sometimes it takes a little longer) we will e-mail to you a copy of carriers Express Release Bill of Lading (consider the B/L a title for your shipment). This Bill of Lading will show you complete information on your shipment and contact details of the carrier’s destination receiving station, i.e. your destination agent.

Print the Bill of Lading and keep it in your records in order to recover your cargo at the destination. Shipments on Express Release should be released upon providing a copy of the B/L. No originals required.

If you need a set of originals B/L then please refer to these conditions.

6th STEP: MEET YOUR VEHICLES AT THE DESTINATION.

In few days before ETA - Estimated Time of Arrival, carrier’s destination agent should contact consignee/notify party with a Notice of Arrival.

If for any reasons you will not receive the Arrival Notice, then we strongly recommend you contact the destination agent on the ETA day in order to find out status of your shipment. You can see contact info of the destination agent in your Bill of Lading within the ‘For Delivery/Pickup Please Apply To’ block of the Bill of Lading. Fax or e-mail them a copy of your Express Release Bill of Lading and ask for recovery instructions on your shipment.

Shipment with trans-shipments, i.e. your Bill of Lading shows that a port of discharge is different from the final destination: ETA on shipments with trans-shipments may not be ETA to the final destination. Check ETA port in your ship documents. If it is not to the final destination, then it may take additional 15-25 days to get cargo to the final destination. Some trans-shipments, from Europe to Africa for example, may take longer.

Notice: Most likely carrier’s destination agent will not receive any information on your shipment until very few days before it actually reach the destination. If you contact them in advance, then fax or e-mail them a copy of your Bill of Lading, verify your contact info in order to get an arrival notice and wait for the notice of arrival.

7th STEP: CARGO RECOVERY AT THE DESTINATION. DESTINATION CHARGES.

IMPORTANT! YOU MUST FURNISH ORIGINAL TITLE(S) ON YOUR VEHICLE(S) TO THE DESTINATION CUSTOMS. WITHOUT THE TITLE(S) YOU VEHICLE(S) CANNOT BE RELEASED BY THE CUSTOMS. MAKE SURE YOUR CONSIGNEE (RECIPIENT) HAD RECEIVED THE TITLE(S) FROM YOU BEFORE ETA ON YOUR SHIPMENT.

All international shipments are subject to destination charges. In general these charges include: 1 - Destination Country Government (Customs) related charges, i.e. duty and taxes (if any), harbor fees, fee on entry filing by a destination Customs Broker etc.; 2 - Destination terminal(s) handling charges and fees (THC); 3 – Service fee from carrier’s destination agent on handling and delivery (if you requesting delivery to your door) of your shipment. Destination charges vary depending on a destination country and carrier. Typically it is out of control of U.S. Freight Forwarder. Guiding importer in the complexity of cargo recovery procedures at the destination is responsibility of carrier’s destination agent.

You may want to check in advance with your destination country embassy or ask a destination country’s customs broker about Government (Customs) regulations on your shipment.

Notice: a part or all destination charges may be required to be paid at a port of entree, but not at the final destination. I.e. you have to obtain Customs release and pay part of THC at a port of entry. Then your cargo will continue travel to the final destination cleared with customs.

3. A sample of destination charges on vehicles in Germany

1. Handling/Unloading (THC)

Aprx. EUR 300 per vehicle, unloading/handling fees.

This fee is for discharging the container from vessel (CSC Bremerhaven) AND for unloading of the cars ex container. It also includes port security fees and haulage of the container (terminal-warehouse-terminal). It also includes survey and survey report for each car.

2. Customs clearance

EUR 100 per vehicle, for customs clearance. There are two alternatives for customs clearance:

a. If it is the final entry into EU client has to pay 10% duty and 19% German VAT) at Bremerhaven;

OR

b. If it is transit customs clearance (T-1. I.e. transportation in bond), then:

Client can drive his car under customs bond at his home without paying duty and vat in Bremerhaven.

In this case he/she must leave a cash deposit amounting to 30% of car value in the destination agent's office or at customs office. These 30% cash deposit will be refunded as soon as the client has arranged final customs clearance at his local customs office.

If destination agent would issue a T-1 without deposit and client will not arrange final customs clearance, then the destination agent must to pay duty and vat for this car to German customs authorities.

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