invictia

Hi everyone,

I have read your questions in regards shipping goods over to AUS and thought maybe I could answer some FAQ:

I work for an International Removalist in Perth, I am the Sea Import Co ordinator, so I have a fair idea of what goes on, I may even have spoken to some of you on here!!!!

OK, you arrive in Australia, normally before your consignment, you get sent a nice letter and a Invoice for the Customs charges to an Australian address that you give your UK agent before you leave.

In that letter is certain forms that you have to sign and send back, if you dont have a perm address for your goods to be delivered to........dont panic, just fill in the forms with the best info that you have.

Once the vessel arrives into Port - please be advised that 99% of shipments, especially from UK/Europe change vessel @ Singapore, and again sometime they miss the connecting vessel and have to wait for the next one.
I then lodge all the correct documents to Customs for clearance:

Correct documents are:

Unaccompanied Personal Effects Form &
Copies of Passport page and VISAs for ALL people stated on above form, this is one that I often have to chase as I only get the passport and Visa for the person filling out the form NOT the spouse named as well.

After I have Customs clearance which is normally within the week, I then lodge your goods for Quarantine Inspection - I personally have AQIS into our premises twice a week for Inspections.

These 2 hurdles are ones that I cannot control, all I can do is submit the paperwork and wait,

IF AQIS declare that all your goods are OK, then you get a phone call from Operations to arrange delivery.

IF on the other hand - AQIS want some goods quarantined, they will either instruct them to do cleaned or destroyed. I then get the job of calling you to ask which you want to do, I then send you a form to sign (and another bill)

invictia

You then send me back form and I arrange for either cleaning or destruction of goods,

Anything that needs cleaning will take up to 10 days to be completed. You will have to physically collect these items.

If you have goods quarantined, it wont hold up delivery of the rest of the goods.,


NOW, we are coming into what in the Industry we call THE BUSY, offically it starts 15 Nov to 15 Feb, this is when delays are most likely to occur, last year for instance Customs and AQIS where taking upto 6 weeks to clear goods.

This bit I cannot control, I cannot hurry things along, we all just have to be patient with this bit! I understand FULLY that you want your goods asap, and the kids have no toys, beds etc but I cannot do ANYTHING about it.

invictia

To finish.........
My advice, keep us updated will ALL contact numbers and addresses.

Buy Xmas Decs when you get here, AQIS love to quarantine these, because of the pine cones on a lot of them.

If possible DONT bring in cars or bikes, because they ALWAYS have to go for cleaning.
Thanks for listening,

If I can be of any more help to anyone please PM me.

regards

Sal

MANDS14

Hi There
Thanks for all this information. Our stuff is being shipped to Perth in November.
The only thing that has worried me is that ALL bikes will have to be cleaned by AQIS. Is this true? Even if we have made them spotless?
And is there a separate charge for this? And then we will have to pick them up also?

Worried as we are bringing 5 bikes, tools, golf clubs and ceramin potts.

Nikki.P

We brought both our bikes which although were not all that well used, were used and did not need to be retained for cleaning by AQIS. We jeyes fluid cleaned everything and nothing including the bikes, strimmer or any of OH's tools needed to be held back for cleaning. It's just pot luck sometimes I think.

peggy76

how often do bikes get stopped??? we got told by the shippers that if they where clean and stunk of jeyes fluid then you'd be OK is this not true?

moneypenny20

Our four bikes were'nt looked at, packaging perfect. We'd pressure washed then and WD40'd them (went though cans and cans of WD40 on everything). Luck of the draw I think.

invictia

Hi guys,

Yep, its luck of the draw, depending on which quarantine officers do the inspection, some are more pedantic than others.

As long as things are cleaned throughly there really shouldn't be a problem.

Good luck with the cleaning.

Sal

Rainydaze

Thanks a million for this thread invictia, very timely for us anyway!

Our stuff is being delivered tomorrow and i came on here just now for some advice about what to expect and a bit of reassurance given all the lost/missing/delayed horror stories surrounding shipping. Since we weren't asked for permission to clean or destroy anything, it's given me hope that our stuff passed through AQIS relatively unscathed - touch wood!

RobAndEwa

Fantastic info, thanks Invictia!

Are there any other items on the "automatic quarantine" list? For example I have some untreated oak coffeetables, outdoor sports gear, rusty tools(!), etc. Knowing which stuff we shouldn't bother to bring would really help.

Rob

MrCro

what about whicker or cane furniture?

also heard pillows and duvets with feathers could be problem?

Anyone sent gas barbie or patio heaters and been pulled?

I sent a cubic meter of tools when worked in oz 2005, gave everything bit of a clean and got straight through, boxes not even opened! So dont think that rust is an issue.

Rainydaze

No Wicker or Cane- I couldn't believe how much stuff - chairs, blanket boxes etc - I had to get rid of prior to coming here because it was wicker or cane.

It also seems that anything likely to have been used outdoors - bikes, tools, etc - is automatically an issue AQIS will want to check, to ensure there's no foreign dirt arriving.

joh117

Our car got through ok and the bikes without cleaning this end we steam cleaned in the UK. So not quite right.

This was recently (oct 08) into Brisbane.

Jo

MrCro

Does anyone know the theory why you cannot take your whicker furniture when you see similar furniture for sale in the shops in Australia?

At the end of the day it has probably come from the same factory in China originally but then via your house in the UK?

lazylou123

hi

just how clean does everything need to be, we are bringing across 5 bikes and my husband is a mechanic so all his tools will be coming aswell. will he need to clean every tool and his tool cabinets

thanks for any info

Louisa