SHIPPING A CONTAINER

[intrepid]

3 hours ago, bigpearl said:

Thank you Intrepid, gives us hope that we too can get through the shipping issues, I read with great interest your post from 12 odd months ago.  

For me we have to go down the SRRV path but getting straight answers from the PRA, BIR, Customs, shipping brokers left us very frustrated and despondent to say the least, in fact we looked at simply selling everything here in Oz and buying new there, we get 2 bob and a bottle of beer for all our stuff here and then spend over a million plus pesos there to replace. Many things cannot be replaced, artworks, we have some 25 indigenous paintings worth a house in the Philippines that I want to keep, tools and equipment worth nothing to sell here but a small fortune to replace there, quality furniture/quality linen are worth a fortune there, family memorabilia that no one in the family is interested to take etc.

We are allowed to bring US 7k under the SRRV, not much in the scheme of things, My question has always been who values our belongings when they land in PH? I can easily fire sale value them below the tax free import in the manifest BUT.

We also to date have not been able to find a company here in Oz that will take on the whole deal, Oz to Manila to La Union, I have spoken to brokers in Manila but can't get straight answers mainly I think because they know little about the SRRV exemptions and another issue appears to be the fact that I will purchase a seaworthy container in Oz so I can have plenty of time to load it and yes manifest etc. to be dropped at our house and left there (time to unpack and future storage for us) this is very alien to the brokers I have spoken with and they all want the container back even though I purchased it. Phone conversations seem to go nowhere but always a request to formalise my questions in an email so they can be reviewed by a supervisor or manager, never a response, follow up and still no response, this seems to be the normal practice not just with government departments but also private companies and individuals.

We are heartened to finally hear that others have succeeded with this process and appreciate the knowledge and input from forum members, Intrepid, you have sparked my fire again, thank you. We are fortunate that we still have 2 years to get all this on the go, next year prior to arriving back in Manila I will make an appointment with someone learned in the PRA and hopefully be able to get answers and work our/their time schedule as well as more info on duty/tax free imports, possibly info on how to deal with customs and BIR etc.

My ex wife and I moved from Victoria to Queensland 18 years ago, 2 shipping containers purchased, loaded over a month or so and transported some 2,000 kilometres, still have the containers, fantastic extra storage for junk (yes I'm a hoarder). I do know how much one can get into a 20ft container if planned wisely, lol, so do customs. Again great to hear a success story.

Cheers, Steve.

 

I understand all you are going through Steve.  Been there and done that.  The good news is you have lots of time.  Keep plugging away at it.  I wish I could find the company name of the receiver/shipper/broker here that our company contracted in Makati.  They were good, fair, and knowledgeable.  Don't expect it, but I will try to research a little more later and see if I can locate it.  Maybe they could handle the whole process for you.  Might be cheaper and easier to have one company do it all.

good luck!

[earthdome]

On 5/7/2017 at 6:15 PM, mogo51 said:

We are just starting the BB process here in Pattaya, had some cartons delivered last week, SO will start to fill them over this month.  

It is cheaper to ship from US than 'just over the ocean' from Thailand, go figure?

I expect the reason is that there are so many ships 'dead heading' i.e. returning back to asia from the US empty that the costs are minimal.

[mogo51]

 

I expect the reason is that there are so many ships 'dead heading' i.e. returning back to asia from the US empty that the costs are minimal.

Yes no doubt you are right earthdome.