Jacqui Marlin
07-25-2007, 2:45 PM
I thought my experience (good) easing my Chinese laser through customs might encourage others. This is a cross post in case the other one was buried in a different thread. I made the choice to fly to Honolulu from Hilo since sending the papers would probably delay the machine another week.
I had heard reports of various customs difficulties other people had importing the laser machines so I went armed with as much info as I could and my good friend met me at the airport in Honolulu. I was told the equipment could be claimed after noon on monday but we went straight to the port and searched out customs. This is a pretty large port with close to 50 piers. There were two or three areas so we worked out way through them to finally find the office for freight and even though it was 10:45 I figured I would check anyway and with no one waiting I was able to get this taken care of without much problem. The agent had done his homework after he talked with me on the phone a couple of days ago and had the classification for duty figured out. I had worried about the FDA clearance for lasers (broker firm made it sound like a major headache) but nothing was necessary. So with duty paid and papers stamped getting the shipment released was the next step.
Since it was lunch time we stopped for lunch in Chinatown (great stalls kind of place where we had great lunch for cheap!) Back to the port and this required a number of stops. Moving company that had offloaded the vessel and had the machine in storage and also China shipping company to show the customs stamp so the goods could be released - of course these were at opposite ends of the port. Without a way to move the crate ourselves I ended up having the moving company make the arrangements to take it to the interisland barge port. That was the most expensive and unexpected cost but by this time I just wanted to be sure it was done. So it should be on the barge that leaves Wednesday midnight for Hilo Port and it is due to arrive midnight Thursday but I am not sure if I can get it on Friday as I planned since the shipments then have to be offloaded and sorted since it is not a full container load. If it happens to be at the back side of a container I would have to wait until the stuff in front of it is emptied out before I could get it, but at least it is on the 2nd to the last leg of its long journey - the last being onto a truck and up my stairs to be installed in my newly cleared office space. And I have requests for a couple of possible jobs once I learn to use it!
I want to post a huge thank you to all of the members of this forum who have posted their own experiences and who have been very supportive in answering my questions. Marc in particular who even offered to help me move it in Honolulu although I didn't see the email until after I had made the arrangements. It is the offer and thought that was most appreciated.
I am sure I will have many more questions re set up, and best of all, I have discovered two wonderful groups who also have answers to other tool questions so there has been a great learning opportunity presented to me!
I had heard reports of various customs difficulties other people had importing the laser machines so I went armed with as much info as I could and my good friend met me at the airport in Honolulu. I was told the equipment could be claimed after noon on monday but we went straight to the port and searched out customs. This is a pretty large port with close to 50 piers. There were two or three areas so we worked out way through them to finally find the office for freight and even though it was 10:45 I figured I would check anyway and with no one waiting I was able to get this taken care of without much problem. The agent had done his homework after he talked with me on the phone a couple of days ago and had the classification for duty figured out. I had worried about the FDA clearance for lasers (broker firm made it sound like a major headache) but nothing was necessary. So with duty paid and papers stamped getting the shipment released was the next step.
Since it was lunch time we stopped for lunch in Chinatown (great stalls kind of place where we had great lunch for cheap!) Back to the port and this required a number of stops. Moving company that had offloaded the vessel and had the machine in storage and also China shipping company to show the customs stamp so the goods could be released - of course these were at opposite ends of the port. Without a way to move the crate ourselves I ended up having the moving company make the arrangements to take it to the interisland barge port. That was the most expensive and unexpected cost but by this time I just wanted to be sure it was done. So it should be on the barge that leaves Wednesday midnight for Hilo Port and it is due to arrive midnight Thursday but I am not sure if I can get it on Friday as I planned since the shipments then have to be offloaded and sorted since it is not a full container load. If it happens to be at the back side of a container I would have to wait until the stuff in front of it is emptied out before I could get it, but at least it is on the 2nd to the last leg of its long journey - the last being onto a truck and up my stairs to be installed in my newly cleared office space. And I have requests for a couple of possible jobs once I learn to use it!
I want to post a huge thank you to all of the members of this forum who have posted their own experiences and who have been very supportive in answering my questions. Marc in particular who even offered to help me move it in Honolulu although I didn't see the email until after I had made the arrangements. It is the offer and thought that was most appreciated.
I am sure I will have many more questions re set up, and best of all, I have discovered two wonderful groups who also have answers to other tool questions so there has been a great learning opportunity presented to me!