Advice For Container Shipping

When it comes to shipping parcels, if your business expands and you find yourself sending hundreds, if not thousands of parcels out each month to customers abroad. It may well be worth looking at shipping them in bulk in a container and then getting a local courier to distribute them. This scenario would work well if you are shipping a lot of parcels from the United Kingdom to Northern Europe.

So what do you have to be aware of when shipping a container full of parcels?

Firstly you can rent space on a container (It would be unusual to buy one), and they come in two sizes 20' and 40'. A 20' container holds around 850 to 1050 cubic feet, and a 40' container holds around 1850 to 2200 cubic feet. You will need to give the shipping agent at least 7 days notice that you want to rent a container.

To give some idea of this space a 20' container would hold the contents of a 1-2 bedroom house, and a 40' one will hold the contents of a 3-5 bedroom house.

Once your container has been shipped, your overseas agent will alert you of its arrival and you will then have around 5 days in which to deal with customs and empty the contents of your container. Beyond this time the container agent is likely to charge you for storage.

Items that you should not ship in containers are: Jewellery, aerosols, alcohol, flammable or hazardous goods, firearms, live plants, financial or other important documents.

With regards to paperwork you will need to make two lists for insurance purposes. One will have the value of the replacement goods for the insurance company, and this should be sent to them or your container shipping company if insuring through them. The other list that will be needed is one for overseas, however this will have no values on it.

When your container arrives abroad, you will have to clear customs, as well as paying a port fee and then either collect your goods or arrange for the containers ongoing shipment.

You could do this yourself but you would be well advised to use a customs broker, or your parcel courier service, or a local shipping agent as they will be used to dealing with all the paperwork and thus be able to ensure that your container of parcels passes swiftly through customs. It is not advisable to do this process yourself, particularly when shipping to foreign countries where language maybe a major barrier.

For further information regarding great deals on local, European and International parcel delivery visit Worldwide Parcel Services one of the UK's leading parcel service delivery companies.