Fluffy Boogie

Hello!
We have a general question and have tried to research a possible answer, which is still unclear...

We are arriving Feb 9 2007 and we have heard from our shipping company that the boat will arrive Feb 5 2007, but that clearance will take place approx 10 days following.
Our shipping company has also said this to us:

If the vessel arrives the 5th, the goods will not be available before a couple of days, so do not worry…It still needs to be unloaded from the vessel, unloaded from the container and picked up by my agent. By the time you arrive, the goods are ready for clearance.

He seems to make sense but so do others!

Do we need to be there physically the day the boat arrives or the day customs gets around to clearance the 10 days following?

Thank you so much for you advice. We just have heard that its best to be there before, which we know, but now are just confused between boat arrival date or customs clearance date!

Fluffy Boogie

snowgoose

We arrived a few weeks before our Stuff - the shipping agent contacted us once it was off the ship and in his warehouse. He arranged for his team to meet us at Customs Clearance, which to our relief was not in Toronto, but Kitchener. We arrived a few minutes early so the extremely friendly customs officer went through the paperwork......don't forget to take passports and manifest......our van arrived on time so it was simply a matter of handing over a small fee (around $11) and away we went! The van then followed us home where the driver and his mates unloaded and put everything where we wanted, while we double checked our manifest with their copy. It went so smoothly, with the aid of coffee and plenty of cookies; I don't know what the protocol is, but it was a week before Christmas so we gave them a tip....it all went so much better than we'd anticipated.

Fluffy Boogie

Hi thanks for your response! Your story sounds so stress-free! I guess it just the jitters and of course the great unknown. Still my shipping company is trying to ease my worries and sticking to their story - they are also going to get their agent in Canada to contact me to put my mind at ease. But I always say its better to be 200% sure than 100%. Especially when it involves something as big as relocating across the world.

mjanovitz

If I remember correctly (and it seems like a long time ago now), the agant in Canada contacted us when our goods arrived in the country. We then arranged a date to go to the shipping agents, take some paperwork from them to customs and then back again, then they arrange a date for the goods to be delivered. As it happens we were already in Canada at the time the goods arrived but I don't see it would have made any difference if we weren't. Just ensure the receiving agent in Canada has a contact number for you.

It was all suprisingly straight forward.

Mark

Fluffy Boogie

Thanks Mark! Wow, that's a breather!!

We'll let you all know how it goes - Britishexpats.com members - you all rock!

Fluffy Boogie

dentaltech

our uk shippers told us our furniture would arrive on the 16th november , had a phone call on the 17th from handlers in toronto asking us to go to customs and clear the container , he emailed a couple of forms he required stamping , we went down on the 18th cleared it all , no hassle , faxed the forms back , guys delivered 22nd. easiest thing i have done all year !!

suebed

Our goods arrived a week before we did but it took us over a month to get them! Look at some of my earlier post if you want more info on our sad story. It was hugely frustrating at the time. Hopefully, you'll have have the easy experience that most people on here seem to have had.

Good luck