It’s your mum’s birthday; you want to send her a card. Simply attach a stamp and stick it in the nearest post box. Actually, you need to send her a present, no bother, pop down to your nearest post office, or better yet, purchase it as a gift online. Now consider what you would do if you were emigrating to the USA or New Zealand and need to send all you possessions, or if you are doing business with a new client in China and need to send them some samples. How would you go about sending these items? Here you would need the help of an international courier service.

Now, food is grown in one country, electronics manufactured in another. The global economy, supplemented by transportation specialists using air and sea freight have made this not only possible but essential.

Different countries will have different courier providers, different import rules and different ways of doing business. This is where using an international courier service is most beneficial. If they do not have access to all countries using their own service, they will often be able to coordinate with local logistics providers to bridge these challenging situations.

You want your items to arrive on time and undamaged to their intended destination but in between there are a multitude of considerations:

Which country are they being delivered to?

  • Countries within the EU are VAT and duty exempt (currently, dependant on Brexit)
  • Some countries have specific prohibited lists (Australia bans many meats, seeds etc.)
  • All countries have specific import duty rules and exemptions – these rules will affect cost, transit time and paperwork required.

Are the items dangerous, hazardous, prohibited or restricted?

  • Dangerous items such as aerosols, batteries, ammunition and guns are not allowed.
  • Prohibited items such as animals, medical supplies and money have strict limitations and certification requirements. most international courier services will not send them

Is this commercial or personal freight?

  • Again, different rules for one or the other.
  • Invoicing requirements, duty payments

When do the items need to be delivered?

  • Urgent delivery will require air freight and incur a higher cost than items which can be sent by the cheaper but slower sea freight option.

When you are sending items via international logistics providers there are a number of critical aspects you must get right. In regard to logistics, space is everything, so the essential items needed include:

  1. Weight
  2. ‘Chargeable weight’ is an important concept. A box which weighs the same as another but has larger dimensions will cost more to ship as it takes up much greater space.
  3. Height
  4. Width
  5. Length
  6. previously discussed items such as paperwork, contents, Commercial/personal, delivery/collection address.
  7. Packaging
    – You can send items as small as an envelope or small jiffy bag, or as large as a container if you are using sea freight.
    – International couriers offer sizes dependant on needs
    – Pallets are commonly used
    – Containers can be split to allow more than one sender for smaller loads.

If you want to get in touch with us to discuss the international courier services we can offer you simply contact our team today on 01442 233333 or email us at info@cheetahcouriers.co.uk.