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DOCUMENTATION Whether the transport is by land, sea, or air it is still referred to as “shipping”. The documentation for shipping by land, sea or air requires virtually the same information; the sea version has more complex legal issues as these go back to the days of sailing ships and pirates. It is not possible to deal directly with a “Shipping Line” or “Carrier”, an exporter must use a “Freight Forwarder”, who will then deal with the “Shippers Agent”, who will then deal with the Carrier. The Carrier appoints the Shippers Agent. When Sureshot receives a “Confirmed Order” it then places an order with the supplier and provides details of the Freight Forwarder and instruction on where the goods should be delivered and what markings should be on the package (despite clear instructions the suppliers often send goods with no markings or any documents). At this time Sureshot also gives the Freight Forwarder details of the incoming package, a “Commercial Invoice” and address of the recipient. |
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Shipping Documents |
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The first movement of the goods is known as “Carriage”. For Carriage, a minimum charge is made, this is usually £20.00 regardless of the size or weight of the package, for example an O-ring with a value of £1.00 will cost £20.00. Unless avoidable, Sureshot is obliged to add this cost to the price of the goods. When the goods arrive at the Freight Forwarders, they arrange forward carriage, contact the Shippers Agents, produce the shipping documentation, package the goods and then Carriage them to the Shippers Agents. The charge for this is included in the “C” of C&F. Once the Shippers Agents have the goods, they arrange the freight, consolidate the shipment, produce the flight documentation, manifest etc, conform to security arrangements and then put the goods onto the aircraft. Only when the flight has left the airport and the manifest is confirmed do they produce the “Master Airway Bills” (MAWB). The MAWB is similar to the seagoing “Bills of Lading” it is a legal document that not only directs that the goods have flown, but has legal bearing on the keeper or owner of the goods. The Shippers Agents will post the MAWB to the Freight Forwarders; this can take from two to five days, depending on the efficiency of the company, the day of the goods departure and the post. On receipt of the MAWB the Freight Forwarder will take information from the Commercial Invoice and the MAWB and if required produce a “Caricom” or “Form 18” document, these consist of a Commercial Invoice combined with a Declaration of Origin. The cost of producing the Caricom is £20.00 regardless of the value of the order. The Caricom is then posted to Sureshot; this could take from two to five days depending on when the MAWB was received. The Certificate of Origin always states that 51% of the goods originate in the European Economic Community (EEC) in fact this is nonsense because the goods could have originated anywhere. The Caricom is a legal document that is produced on a pre-printed form The form is faced with a pattern of shapes and colours designed to prevent it being copied or faxed. When the Caricom is complete it is posted to Sureshot, depending on the day of postage this could take from one to five days. Since the goods left the Airport, the Caricom has taken between four and ten days or more to reach Sureshot, if this document is to be forwarded to the customer by Courier it will take not less than five more days, and cost a further £45.00. So on average, a Caricom document will take at least two to three weeks after departure of the aircraft for it to reach the customer and perhaps much longer. It will also have added at least £75.00 to the cost of the C&F. Sureshot has no control of any of the above as it does not produce the MAWB or the Caricom. To get around these problems, Sureshot can produce its own version of the Caricom document, this document carries exactly the same information and can be e-mailed, however the document has to have an original signature. Should you require an original Caricom, it will add an extra £75.00 to the cost of shipping regardless of the value of the order, (please note, provided that they are all shipped together, one Caricom can be used for any number of items) and add at least two weeks to the receipt of any documentation. If you want to use Sureshot’s own Caricom or Form 18 then the price is included in the general shipping costs and it will be produced on our receipt of the MAWB (the details from this are required). Finally, we would be pleased to improve our service, if you have any suggestions on how we can do this, without contravening the UK, or International Maritime laws then please do not hesitate to offer your suggestions. |
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CONTACT US AT — England tel: + 44 (0) 161 624 2916 fax: + 44 (0) 161 627 0594 E-mail: info@sureshot-intl.com South Africa: tel: + 27 11708 2703 fax: + 27 11708 2705 E-mail: milequip@iafrica.com |
