Transporting goods to Vietnam

[Corrigano]

Hi,

My wife and I are moving from living in the UK to moving on a new live aboard Catamaran.

It’s being built in Vietnam and the scheduled handover date is mid Feb next year. Obviously the actual date will be completely Covid dependent.

Anyway, we’ll obviously be flying out with baggage of clothes, but we’re really unclear on our best options for transporting our additional stuff in terms of cost and a trustworthy carrier.

We’re limiting our excess baggage to deep sea fishing tackle, diving gear excl tanks, power tools and some electrics. I’m guessing total weight will be about 100kg, which can be packaged as one or individual packs.

Sorry for the lengthy thread, but I wanted to ensure that I provided as much basic info as required to request advice or guidance.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Cheers.

[Matt Johnson]

We just sent five large 30kg boxes (150kg total) from the UK to USA with the service Sendmybag.com. They are agents for multiple carriers. In our case it was actually FedEx that picked the boxes up and delivered, but sendmybags was almost half the cost of what FedEx themselves quoted for the same thing.

Congratulations on the new boat.

Matt

Originally Posted by Corrigano

Hi,

My wife and I are moving from living in the UK to moving on a new live aboard Catamaran.

It’s being built in Vietnam and the scheduled handover date is mid Feb next year. Obviously the actual date will be completely Covid dependent.

Anyway, we’ll obviously be flying out with baggage of clothes, but we’re really unclear on our best options for transporting our additional stuff in terms of cost and a trustworthy carrier.

We’re limiting our excess baggage to deep sea fishing tackle, diving gear excl tanks, power tools and some electrics. I’m guessing total weight will be about 100kg, which can be packaged as one or individual packs.

Sorry for the lengthy thread, but I wanted to ensure that I provided as much basic info as required to request advice or guidance.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Cheers.

.

[Corrigano]

Many thanks Matt, I’ll have a look at them.

Cheers!

[skyhawk]

I would think you could ship a crate to the builder...and that they could help with import logistics

[Corrigano]

Originally Posted by skyhawk

I would think you could ship a crate to the builder...and that they could help with import logistics

Thanks Skyhawk

[billgewater]

Yes. Maybe the builder is importing stuff from the UK and may share a container. Might be worth asking them. You have time on your hands.

[Knot Safety]

We went through this when we bought our boson the Caribbean and moved from Canada. In the end it was about the same price, and just outright easier, to haul four bags each on the airline when we came down and pay the excess baggage fees.

We had the bags with us. No customs import fees. We could add or take away right up to the last minute. Worked quite welll

[NinjaW]

Seriously, speak with the manufacturer. We live in Vietnam and shipping goods here can be a lengthy and costly process. Customs can be a nightmare if you don't have a good agent who has a relationship with customs here. Carry as much valuables as you can on your flight. Also, as it stands at the moment if you can get a visa to enter the country you will be required to isolate at your expense for up to 14 days. This may relax but it looks like it is not guaranteed until other countries get a grip on covid-19.

[AndyinAbudhabi]

Beware of items going missing. Used to travel to Vietnam and often items would be missing from baggage carried in the aircraft hold. Would definitely talk to the manufacturer about shipping.

[Corrigano]

Originally Posted by AndyinAbudhabi

Beware of items going missing. Used to travel to Vietnam and often items would be missing from baggage carried in the aircraft hold. Would definitely talk to the manufacturer about shipping.

Really, thanks for the heads-up my friend. I will do

[VNCruzer]

Hi Corrigano,

Glad to help answer questions and be available to guide you thru the next few months. Been based in Saigon for many years, and active in the maritime scene in VN.

Important planning considerations needing to be handled now:
1 understanding the realities of visa process "now", a lot of restrictions in place...
2 understanding Covid testing and Quarantine protocol prior to and once arriving ...
3 Planned arrival time coincides with Vietnam's biggest and longest holiday...TET...Vietnam New Year... ( important to refer to it as their Vietnam New Year ...not chinese new year... It's a matter of national pride that they call it TET... 11-16 Feb is official holiday time. However, things begin to refocus on 'early' celebrating 2 weeks before thru at least 2 weeks after...

Have seen huge changes here in past 15 years. In beginning I was shipping in many items paying excess bag fees and via FedEx... Now you can buy most everything here, so maybe you can reduce that 100kg based on our talking together what all on that list can be obtained here...

Think it good to PM me and we can discuss more...

BTW good choice if it's a SW cat... They are a short motorbike ride from me.


Stay healthy!!

BB