Thursday, 12 June 2008

Shipping Update

Hooray! I have 18 boxes at home without any fuss. I met the shipping agent this morning at Customs House. He had arranged for a pass into the port area. In hushed tones he mentioned that in order to get the pass quickly, they had said I was an employee of the agent, as otherwise it takes over 48 hours!

Once inside we just walked to the customs warehouse, where the agent told me to wait in an air-conditioned waiting room while he went through the paperwork with the customs officials. I waited for about half an hour in which he came back a couple of times for a signature on a form. Then, with the senior customs official, he took me to the boxes. The customs guy ordered one of his minions to open 6 or 7 boxes, asked me if there were any electronic goods and then apologised to me for having to open the boxes!! The agent then said I could go while he arranged delivery of the boxes, and that was that! There were no "extra payments" that people warned me about, just the agent/transport fees etc. It was all very straightforward and I was able to go and work from home while waiting for the boxes!

No comments: