Marie E.v.B. Gibbons on fri 21 may 99
Hi all,
I wonder if anyone may be able to give me some hints on shipping work
internationally. I will be needing to ship about 20 or so midsize and small
sculptural works to the Netherlands in late August. I haven't a clue of
where to start, and what will be most cost effective, any advice from you
guys would be wonderful!!
Thanks in advance,
Marie Gibbons
Denver, Colorado
http://members.aol.com/MGibb21521/indexMarieE.v.B.Gibbons.html
Ian Dunbar on sat 22 may 99
Hi Marie,
Airfreight is far safer and quicker than sea-freight. I have used the same
shipping agency for the last 6 years and their handling of my delicate
ceramics via airfreight to Amsterdam, Holland has been excellent. The
company is called Hellmann International and they have offices all over the
world.
One or two words of advice: pack each piece so that even with the most
extreme handling there is no chance of contact between one article and
another or the bottom of the box. I use acres of newspaper, computer shred
and polystyrene chips gently pushed in between each item. Egg cartons ( 2
dozen size) are also excellent for taping round larger pieces. Use a strong
tri-wall corrugated cardboard box; I get these from a furniture removal
firm. (You should use wooden crates for really heavy sculptures). When the
box is 3/4 full, fill the top of the box with plenty of packing. However
many 'this side up' messages you put on, it's a fair guess that someone
will drop it "gently" up-side-down.
Plaster the sides and top of the boxes with labels that say 'fragile' and
'handle with care' and put at least 2 address labels on each ( in case one
gets pulled off). and finally mark each box, '1 of 6', '2 of 6' etc so that
if one goes missing your check sheet will tell you what to claim for on
your insurance.
Too much tape to hold the whole thing together is not enough, so add a bit
more and don't forget to put a packing slip in the first box before closing
and write
"Packing slip/invoice inside" on the top of the box. You will need a copy
of the invoice to give to the shippers for customs clearance.
The ordeal is waiting for your customer to contact you with either the good
or bad news. As you might guess, I had one or two 'bad trips' before I
discovered a company that went out of their way to get my pots safely
across the pond. By the way, I have no connection with the company in
question, other than that of a very satisfied customer.
Regards
Ian Dunbar
Kilncraft Pottery & Gallery,
Lynedoch,
Cape Province,
South Africa.
-----Original Message-----
From: Marie E.v.B. Gibbons [SMTP:Oooladies@aol.com]
Sent: 21 May 1999 04:28
To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: international shipping advice
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Hi all,
I wonder if anyone may be able to give me some hints on shipping work
internationally. I will be needing to ship about 20 or so midsize and
small
sculptural works to the Netherlands in late August. I haven't a clue of
where to start, and what will be most cost effective, any advice from you
guys would be wonderful!!
Thanks in advance,
Marie Gibbons
Denver, Colorado
http://members.aol.com/MGibb21521/indexMarieE.v.B.Gibbons.html
nikom chimnok on sat 22 may 99
Hello Marie,
I work for a pottery company that makes 'em by the ton and ships 'em
all over the world. And pretty successfully, I might add.
If I were in your position, I'd try to get started early and send
them by sea freight, instead of air. It is certainly much cheaper, and it's
also safer. Those air freight guys throw things. Probably take a month to
six weeks to get them where they're going.
For LCL (Less than Container Load) shipments, we use wooden crates,
made of 1X3's, with 1" foam inside that and a cardboard box plus foam or
shredded paper inside that. Your pieces are much more precious than ours, so
you might want to build really stout boxes, like of half inch plywood on a
1X2 frame, screwed together. You get charged by volume, not by weight, when
shipping sea freight, and the actual freight costs are very cheap, so don't
skimp. They charge by the cubic meter, but you can build several boxes and
they just add the volumes together. Make them easily liftable, so that
workers along the line are not tempted to just push it off the back of the
truck.
You need to find a shipper who will handle your documents, which
will include an invoice, packing list, bill of Lading, and possibly a Form A
(a certificate of country of origin). The last may not be true when shipping
from USA to Holland--it's necessary for tax purposes when sending from a 3rd
world country to a rich country.
And that's about all I know.
Nikom in Northeast Thailand, where they're planting rice
At 10:28 21/5/99 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hi all,
>I wonder if anyone may be able to give me some hints on shipping work
>internationally. I will be needing to ship about 20 or so midsize and small
>sculptural works to the Netherlands in late August.
>Marie Gibbons
Karen Gringhuis on sat 22 may 99
Mary - you probably n eed the advice of a customs broker. Where to find
one? Try talkign to the curatorial staff at any nearby museum for
leads. A broker will charge y ou $$ but if you screw it up on your
own, incoming customs can impound your goods perhaps w/ a fine &
then you've got a real mess. Ask the place to which you are
shipping them for help. Presumably they are serious about receiving
your work and you can't be the first (well you could) internatl
person w/ whom they've dealt. THEY should know their own incoming
customs regs and perhaps even the people involved.
A problem but "a classy problem!" Karen Gringhuis
Charlie and Linda on sun 23 may 99
Hi Marie,
I was in the same dilemma last summer. I had 70 some pots to send to
Norway. After calling around to various air freight carriers I chose
"Airborne Express". They were about the same cost as other air freight
companys but their reps were more "on the ball" and helpful--at least
here in the Raleigh NC area.
Airborne Express picked up my packed boxes at my house and delivered
them to the gallery in Norway in about 4 days. For an extra small fee
they take care of all of the customs procedures so that you don't have
to be there or have anyone else at the airport to clear customs. Also,
they billed me about a month later so I didn't have to worry about the
expenses until after I returned from the exhibition.
The thing that surprised me was the import duty...I think it was about
20% of the total value of the ceramic goods going into Norway....so
find out from a Dutch Consulate or even a local representative from the
US Department of Commerce what your import duty will be so you don't get
surprised. The Dept. of Commerce guy was really helpful and gave me the
customs codes for the type of "ceramics" that I was sending...there are
a number of categories (I was sending both sculpture and decorative
pots). And you will need those customs codes to fill out the paperwork
from your air freight company. Airborne Express people were extremely
patient with all of my questions and took me step by step through the
paperwork.
If you have any work that can possibly "hang on a wall" make sure you
put it in a separate category in the paperwork...for some reason (at
least in Norway) wall art has a very low duty charge (around 5% of total
value).
Hope that helps.
Linda Riggs
-------------------------------------ORIGINAL MESSAGE------------------
Hi all,
I wonder if anyone may be able to give me some hints on shipping work
internationally. I will be needing to ship about 20 or so midsize and
small
sculptural works to the Netherlands in late August. I haven't a clue of
where to start, and what will be most cost effective, any advice from
you
guys would be wonderful!!
Thanks in advance,
Marie Gibbons
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