Shipping to Australia (update on old threads)

Hi All,

I'm looking for any hints/tips/advice on shipping to Australia for someone who has never done it before, and who made the mistake of a cheap Bali table which once shipping/customs/gst/fumigation/handling fees etc etc almost DOUBLED the cost!

I'm aware of the timber issue in Australia and I assume we just request the proper paperwork from vans regarding this?

I have been given advice to buy as much as I can afford up front and ship together to save costs, but with buying tools I'm not in the position to purchase any more than the emp kit and a couple of practice kits.

I have asked vans for an idea of costs to ship the emp kit, and its around the $1000USD range, which seems excessive but maybe this is cheap??

Thanks again to all the experienced people on here and their willingness to give advice. It's a truly great resource.

G'day Trent,

Talk to the guys at Aussie Car Imports. They handled the shipping of my QB wings and fuse. Great people to deal with and they're not far from Van's so will drive down to the Van's factory and pick up whatever you're shipping.

Cheers,

Warbo

TASEsq said:

I have asked vans for an idea of costs to ship the emp kit, and its around the $1000USD range, which seems excessive but maybe this is cheap??

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The Vans site lists the RV14 empennage kit as a single crate of 2896 x 813 x 330mm with a total weight of 100kg. So I would think that US$1000 airfreight to Australia and customs clearance plus local delivery on an item of that size and weight is not unreasonable.

I'd let Vans handle it and pay their price. They don't charge any commission on the freight cost and generally they'll hunt down the best price for you from a major air freight forwarder.

The most important thing is to advise Vans that you do not want an express airfreight service. Tell them that airfreight delivery time is not critical and you want the best budget price.

Don't forget that you'll also pay an additional 10% GST on the purchase including the airfreight when it arrives.

I think it's OK to buy the empennage separately even if it costs more to have it freighted separately because many builders never progress past the tail feathers for one reason or another.

For the rest of the plane I'd buy every single available kit together as well as the engine and prop from Vans and have the whole lot sent in a dedicated 20 ft container by sea freight. This will go a long way to avoiding the transit damage that frequently occurs if you use consolidated freight. But to keep on bringing out seperate kits to Australia, whether by airfreight or sea freight, is prohibitively expensive.

Thanks Gents for the insights,

Bob - it's interesting as i had assumed sea-freight was the standard. Never asked if it was air freight or not! As you say, not in a rush (after all it is going to take years to build!), so will talk to Aussie Car Imports as well and compare to Vans. Especially since i may have some tools as well, perhaps they can combine them together (as i understand Van's doesn't do this anymore).

What do you guys do for orders from Spruce etc? Someone on here mentioned a "my us mailbox" account? (but this seemed mighty dodgy then i googled it). So far the few things i have had send from the US (some spanners, books) the frieght makes your eyes water. $12 freight on a $10 USB stick with plans

Thanks again.

One more question!

Oh,

And am i expected to contact a local customs handling company here to handle all the import (GST) duties etc? Or does Vans' do this as well as part of their shipping quote?

Van's ship it and bill you for the shipping, then whoever is delivering it to you will will notify you when it arrives in Australia and will inform you how and to whom you will need to make the GST/import duty payments.
I'd get Van's to airfreight your emp kit, then when it comes time to get the wing and fus, give CH Freight a call as they specialize in surface shipping Van's kits to Australia, and I found them great to work with.
Cheers.
Tom.

Pm sent

Hi check your pm

Warbo said:

G'day Trent,

Talk to the guys at Aussie Car Imports. They handled the shipping of my QB wings and fuse. Great people to deal with and they're not far from Van's so will drive down to the Van's factory and pick up whatever you're shipping.

Cheers,

Warbo

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I used Ausie car imports back in back in 2009 and I recomend them!!

Thanks Warbo and RetiredRacer we work hard to offer a good service.

Despite what has been stated here Vans don't do much to shop prices around, they are in the kit building industry and send everything to a shipping company that gives them whatever price they have and Vans passes it on. I have heard of 20' containers being shipped that are less than half full but the client is paying full freight!

Transit damage may happen elsewhere but I believe we have never had any Vans kit damage in our consolidated containers in over 10 years of shipping kits and complete planes.

Cheers!

Another data point

I?ve just taken delivery of my RV-7A wing, fuselage and finishing kits. I used C&H Freight and was VERY happy with their service and communication. They weren?t the cheapest, but I liked the detail and transparency in their quote. They also took the time to answer all my dumb questions by phone and email. (This was my first time importing, as I?d bought the empennage kit, unstarted, from a guy in Melbourne.)

For transport from the depot in Sydney to my home in Bowral I ended up using a local transport company, Cranebiz, at a fraction of the costs quoted by the shipping companies. (And, fortunately for me, his HIAB truck was out for service so he turned up with a forklift on the back of his big truck and dropped the crates straight into my garage.)

I insured the shipment door to door with Midas.

All up, it took 17 weeks from order to delivery. Freight, etc cost a total of AUD 8281 on top of kit cost of AUD 38,395.

Following notice of customs clearance, you have three business days to collect the shipment, otherwise they start charging an arm and a leg for storage. (I made a tentative booking with my transport company based on best guess schedule, but there?s a risk that shipping or handling could be delayed.)

For any shipments that leave the US between 1 September and 30 April there?s also a charge by AU Quarantine for fumigation for stink bug. (I didn?t need this, so not sure of cost.)

More detail re schedule and costs can be found here:
https://1drv.ms/x/s!AjNjVuWQ9mxgsX7Ny5ha8PVyL85e

Anyone but !!

I would take note of Bob Barrow and others about letting Vans sort it out -- or use Aussie Car Imports. Forget the C&H freight mob.. I had nothing but troubles - nothing but disaster for me !!!!!!!!

Bob is is one of the most experienced in this area.

C&H Freight did a great job for me. They would be my first choice.

Thanks for the tip. Any experience with Cargolution air freight?

The shipping will cost almost what the package is worth. Plus, in Australia Vans don't do much to shop prices around, they are in the kit building industry and send everything to a shipping company that gives them whatever price they have. I suggest look for a local transport company like BRI sea freight from Australia to UK.

Freight seems OK

johnnydoughert said:

I will start off by apologizing if this isn't the right location for this post. I tried to search for similar topics, but couldn't find anything for my specific questions and then I found this. Was just wondering if it's possible to ship kits now when there is a pandemic going on?

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I haven't really had trouble having things shipped to Oz over the past few months. There is a Fuselage kit with my name on it due to be shipped by Vans in mid August, and in talking to freight companies over here there aren't too many issues with sea freight other than a possible week or two of delay. Air freight rates though are 3-5x the cost now than pre-pandemic.