Hi everyone,

We are moving to the Ontario area from Germany in mid-May and are having our stuff shipped over. (Well, everything that we haven't gotten rid of!) Anyway, we were going to have a 40 foot crate, but have now opted for a 20 foot one (maybe a bit optimistic, but we'll see)

Anyway, the removers here are very vague about the length of time it will actually take before we finally get it at our new place. They have told us how long the actual shipping will be, but say the time it spends in Customs is -how long is a piece of string? Very helpful to me - NOT!

So, my question is, can anyone else who has done it recently give me any advice on how long the Customs people keep your container?? Many Thanks. Kirsty

Our stuff never went to customs, I don't think it's common - is it? - anyone else? It was "held" by the removers until they got to okay to deliver it by Customs, but it was never in the custom people's possession if that makes sense. Of course it would have been delivered to them if they had wanted to inspect it, which they didn't.

So for us, the removers phoned and told us our container was at their warehouse and we needed to call customs to make an appointment to "clear" it. We got an appointment for the next day. When we went the following day to customs, I think we were there at 10am. The okay to release the stuff to us was given at around 11am and by midday, the stuff was at our house being unloaded. This was Winnipeg customs office, through Bishop's Move/Tippet Richardson/Atlas Van Lines (Globe, local firm).

All incoming shipments are reported to customs, whether customs choose to come and inspect it is random, depending on what is declared as in the shipment, where it has come from or been routed. Containers are sealed and considered in bond until released by customs.

If it has anything of interest to another agency, such as agriculture their clearance is also required.

Customs clearance takes no more than a couple of hours, once they have the paperwork and all is in order and there are no problems. Most often the shipper should be doing the clearance for you through their broker. Alternatively a customs broker can do this for a small fee, or you can pick up the paperwork, go to customs and present yourself for clearing a shipment.

If you do it yourself, you need to then take the customs release back to the shipping company who will then let it go out for delivery.

Thanks for your reply. Maybe I have just misunderstood our removers (not difficult!!) - their English is not that great. They did imply that when it arrived in Customs, the Customs officials would open everything up and inspect it??

Their partner company in the Toronto area have been much more helpful/easier to understand and have emailed us and sent us loads of Customs paperwork they need completed and we have gone with the option of allowing the removal company to 'clear' it on our behalf.

I will contact them again though to clarify then, as if it can be 'cleared' that quickly then I will need to arrange some storage with them!!

Surrey Expat - Thanks for your advice, everything is much clearer now!
Kirsty