Shipping a Vehicle from Sydney AU to Southampton UK

Ready for departure

Shipping a vehicle from one continent to another is an inevitable part of a global overlanding adventure and, no doubt, becomes less overwhelming the more times you do it.  However, this was our first experience and not without its challenges.

Unless you are fortunate enough to have been given the name of a good shipping broker to help with the daunting process of shipping a vehicle, you are left at the mercy of Google as you wade through too much unhelpful information until you have a short list of companies/agents that appear to offer the services you want.  This short list is then whittled down as you are told about Covid backlogs, lack of ships, lack of containers and cost differences which ranged into the thousands of dollars.  Eventually, we committed to Ever Global Shipping as Diana Du, Managing Director, was, by far, the easiest and most informative to deal with.   She provided us with the following

-       Ocean freight Sydney to Southampton                                                            AUS  6,400
-      Plus - Australian port charges, export customs clearance,
handling, documentation, container transport and   
loading, vehicle securing.                                                                                 AUD  3,30
-       Transport fuel surcharge                                                                                   AUD     180

-       Weekly sailing service with transit time from port to port approximately 45 days.
- You can bring the car to our export container packing depot. 
-        Vehicle needs to be drained petrol tank and disconnected battery or hazardous goods permit  has to be obtained for an additional charge of AUD 450.
-   The above charges are subject to destination all charges. 
-        Above Plus Marine insurance if you require is 3.5% of value, or min. per policy A$500.
-        Alternatively if you are to ship the car only and the car is drivable, then it can be shipped as RORO from Port Kembla to Southampton that might be cheaper depending on
vehicle dimensions.

Once we agreed to proceed we were asked for the following:

-       vehicle rego copy / year /make / model / vin no. / engine no. , and colour / value
-       your ( exporter)  contact details incl. name / address / email
-       your (exporter) driver licence or passport copy
-       consignee contact details in destination incl. name/ address/ ph no./ email
-        if or not you need the marine insurance, if so value you wish to insure
-        we request deposit of A$1500 for booking, you can directly deposit to our account details as below, or you can pay by credit card ( visa or master, 2.5% additional card fee),
pls provide card no./ expiry date / name.

We were then offered a choice of shipping dates with OCCL Shipping and asked for a rough inventory of personal possessions stored in the car.  Diana then supplied us with the details of an agent in the UK who would be able to help us clear the vehicle once it arrived in Southampton.  His details are RJJ Freight Limited, Contact: Chinita Riser, E-mail: chinita.riser@rjjfreight.co.uk

He supplied and requested the following:

-       UK Landed Charges for 1 x 20ft containing 1 x vehicle, into Southampton               GBP  970

-       This covers UK port charges / Port security charges / Unpacking and shunt charges / UK customs clearance & NOVA.
-       Rate excludes any taxes, if applicable.
-       Please be aware, UK customs can select any container at random for exam. Should this happen, any charges incurred will be invoiced to you.  We cannot foresee this
happening but have to make you aware.
-       Can you please confirm your circumstance of import (i.e transfer of residence / recent purchase / temporary import etc), so I can confirm what documentation we require, to
enable us to clear of customs upon arrival in the UK?
-      You need to complete C110 form on the following link, online and send to me please –
Tell HMRC about the temporary arrival of a non-UK private motor vehicle for personal use (C110) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
-       A copy of the vehicle registration document
-       Current market value for the vehicle
-        Copy of photo ID (passport or licence)
-        Copy of road insurance documents (whilst insured in UK)
-        Signed forms for declaration of a vehicle and appointment of a direct customs agent

unloading everything we would need for the uk

so much red dirt

We decided on ETD Sydney 7th April with ETA Southampton 15th May, paid the $1,500 deposit and were instructed to deliver Bob to Trojan Bonding, Botany Bay on 28th March.  We drove into Sydney on the 28th and after a quick detour to Ian's twin sister in Surrey Hills, where we dropped off everything that we needed to take with us to UK we took Bob to a car detailers close to the ports.  Unlike Australian customs where attention to detail around cleanliness of incoming vehicles is verging on the paranoia, we had been told by Diana not to go overboard with cleaning the vehicle which was just as well given that the red dirt of the Australian outback is now so ingrained on some of the body work it would have required a Herculean effort to remove.  Regardless, we wanted to present him well and despite only having 45 minutes to work on him, the guys at Diamond Clean did a great job.

As the day was rapidly disappearing, it seemed prudent to give the guys at Trojan a ring just to confirm that we were on our way and would arrive before 4pm when we had been told the warehouse closed.  It was therefore a bit of a shock to be told that they weren’t expecting us and they usually closed at 3pm.  We now had a bit of a predicament as it was already past 3pm and overnight parking in Sydney was near impossible for Bob as he couldn't fit under the barriers of any of the car parks!  Also, we had completely forgotten to drain the fuel tank which was at least a quarter full.  Explaining this to Andy at Trojan he amazingly offered us parking at the warehouse even though they had not yet been notified of when the ship was due to arrive and was completely unphased about the fuel on board.  Our ideal of being present to see Bob safely into his shipping container was obviously not on the cards and the only option available to us was to leave him, with the keys inside, parked outside Trojan’s offices.  We were somewhat mollified by Andy's calm reassurance that the yards were under 24hr surveillance and Bob would be quite safe until such time as he could be loaded.

Diana sent us various photos of Bob during the process of loading him into his shipping container

OCCL Houston ((Hong Kong flag) left Sydney on 11th April and we tracked it on vesselfinder.com as it progressed via Brisbane, Thailand and on to Singapore.  What we hadn’t realised, as it hadn’t come up in communication with Diana, was that Bob would be loaded onto another ship for the Singapore/Southampton leg of his journey.  Hoping that shipping containers were not like airport baggage with a higher risk of being misplaced the more times they are pulled on and off their transportation, we were now tracking the CMA CGM Georg Forster (Malta flag) as it made its way through the Suez Canal and on to Tangier, Morocco.  Excited that Bob was close to reaching his destination we contacted Diana for an update on procedure re timing and collection only to be told that he had missed his connection onto Georg Forster and was now on the APL Merlion (Singapore flag) which had only just left Singapore (15th May) and wasn’t due to arrive in Southampton until 9th June. 

Somewhat disappointed we now focussed our attention on the APL Merlion as it made the same journey through the Suez, via Tangier and then on to Rotterdam, Netherlands.  Once again, we contacted Diana who informed us that the new ETA into Southampton was 12th June and we were also contacted by the UK shipping agent who confirmed the ETA and requested the afore-mentioned payment.  We were still tracking the ship and were delighted to see it dock at Southampton on Friday, 10th June.  We were contacted by the UK shipping agent on 13th June who confirmed the ship had arrived and the container had been unpacked.  We were advised of the address (at the docks) for collection and asked for the following:

·       Name of collecting agent
·       Date of intended collection
·       Collecting agent vehicle registration number
·       PIN number to collect (TBC)

We provided all of this and were then issued with a PIN number and told that we would get 7 days free from the day of unpacking to collect.  Thereafter, it would be GPB 12 per day. 

first glimpse of bob in the uk

We arrived at the port just after midday and following our directions drove straight to the collection yard where we could see Bob parked just inside the compound along with a motley collection of around 50-60 other vehicles presumably awaiting collection.  We were met at the gate by two very friendly guys who checked our ID/PIN and then left us to check on Bob.  On their return they announced that Bob had a flat battery and the front interior was covered with mould.  The flat battery was easily dealt with by the appearance of a third guy with a jump starter who also attempted to alleviate the mould situation by handing me a pair of blue plastic gloves and some wipe downs, they really were the nicest guys who were still smiling after I drove away and, wanting to connect my phone and re-organise a couple of things, pulled over and switched Bob off.  Whoops, another jump start needed!  How glad were we that we had not drained the tank and still had quarter of a tank of diesel enabling us to easily recharge the battery.

Despite the four week delay which meant a total shipping time of ten weeks in total, the whole process couldn’t have been much simpler.  The only thing we would do differently in future is to allow Bob to fully dry off after any pre-shipping detailing.

Flying a Large Dog from Australia to UK

Once we started to make enquiries about getting Leroy to the UK, it quickly became clear that flying a pet out of Australia was going to require the services of a pet moving company.  In theory you could navigate your way around all of the required authorisations and documentation but we found that, in practice, the majority of airlines will not deal directly with you and demand you use a qualified agent.  We contacted Jet Pets, Dogtainers and Aeropets with varying degrees of satisfaction although, to be fair, with airlines only just starting to resume anything resembling normal international flights out of Australia, some of the pet moving companies were quite vague about what they could offer and seemed to be lacking definite information from the airlines.  Matters were also complicated with many flights having being affected by transit countries changing policies due to Covid.

After seemingly endless phone calls and e-mails, we chose to go with Aeropets, mainly due to the fact that our contact there, Tom Brown, gave us more confidence than anyone else.  Despite being aware that pets are moved around the world all the time, it does feel like a big deal when it is your own pet being relocated and being able to talk the process through with an intelligent, considerate individual helped enormously.  To start the process, we were required to fill in an information sheet and pay a non-refundable deposit of $500 after which Tom advised us to fly Leroy with one of the middle eastern airlines as their schedules had been much less disrupted than some of the other carriers.  Also, as Qantas was flying Sydney/Darwin/UK they were not accepting pets due to the long flight time of the second leg.  Qatar was accepting pets through Doha, where any animals on board were provided with a comfort stop for 24 hrs before continuing their journey, and this is who we chose.  

Preferred carrier and flight time selected, we were asked to provide vaccination and rabies certifications whilst waiting for Qatar to confirm our requested flight.  We also needed Heathrow to allocate a slot for Leroy to come in through customs.  Our preferred date for Leroy to leave Australia was 4th April, the same day that we would leave with Qantas, and as it was still only middle of Feb when we were finalising arrangements we were pretty confident that we would get a slot at Heathrow.  It was a bit disappointing then to be told that the earliest we could get him through customs in Heathrow would be middle of April.  However, Tom made some calls and informed us that It would be possible for Qatar to get him through Manchester airport instead.  This was more than ok with us as we were intending to head up to North Wales which is in the general direction of Manchester, give or take 150 km.

A week before Leroy was due to fly, we received the final invoice ($5,300) and were notified that he was booked in for a vet check on the morning of his flight at a clinic not far from Sydney airport.  We arrived at the vets at the appointed time where we met Greer, our co-ordinator from Aeropets.  She had another dog that was travelling to Europe who, along with Leroy was given tape worm pills and proclaimed fit to travel.  The UK is very un-demanding in their requirements for pet import asking only for proof of rabies vaccination and tape worm protection.

Vet check over, we followed Greer to the airport holding area which was a 15 minute drive away.  Here both dogs were settled into their own large cages where they would wait until the airline was ready to board them.  So far, the process was straight-forward and with all the Department of Agriculture paperwork processed by Aeropets there was nothing for us to do other than to say goodbye to Leroy and check in for our own flights with Qantas.

We arrived into Heathrow on the Tuesday morning and after collecting a hire car from the airport we headed north and into Wales where we were spending a week prior to heading up to Cumbria for the Coast to Coast walk.  We were now liaising with Starwood Transport, a pet relocation company in the UK, who were dealing with the importation paperwork and custom clearance for a fee of £420. Armed with an e-mail of instructions we headed to Manchester the following morning.  We didn’t have any face to face dealings with Starwood, but following directions, we presented ourselves to Swissport, a cargo handling company, where we collected all the paperwork pertaining to Leroys importation.  We were then directed to Pets on Jets, who are a part of The Pets Travel Scheme that allows cats dogs and, surprisingly, ferrets from certain countries to enter the UK without quarantine.  Here, the recently acquired paperwork was handed over and after the requested sum of £20 had been paid to cover the cost of disposing of the crate, I was taken into the back of the warehouse where said wooden crate was sitting on top of a small trailer.  Being such a large dog (50kg) and possibly because of his breed, Leroy had been crated with the instructions “no teeth, no paws" which meant that his crate, which had been made specifically for him, was solid wood with air holes.  It was not possible to see inside the crate and, therefore, not possible for any animal inside to see out.  I did feel a bit sick when I saw the crate, knowing how much time Leroy would have spent in the dark interior not knowing what was going on, but once the crate door was opened, out he came looking exactly the same as when we had left him in Sydney two and a half days earlier.  To say he was delighted would be a huge under-statement.  He was absolutely beside himself and, after much leaping around, dragged me out of the warehouse to where Ian was waiting with the car.  He really didn't seem to be any the worse from his long journey and it was the best feeling ever to be reunited with him on the other side of the world.

Insurance

Do we need any and, if so, what? Although we consider ourselves to be relatively fit and healthy there is no doubt that a comprehensive health insurance in our back pocket would provide us with the security of knowing that we can get access to medical attention as and if we need it. We have been covered by Bupa for the last 20+ years and so this seemed like a good place to start. We weren’t expecting them to be particularly interested given that we weren’t going to be residing in Australia, but, surprisingly, they were able to offer us an international policy for Australian ex-pats which included evacuation and expatriation as well as the usual health cover world wide. The quote was a hefty AU$15,000 per annum! Whilst researching our options, plenty of cheaper alternatives popped up on Google but they were mainly a combination of travel and minimal health cover and as we were not looking to be compensated for delayed flights or lost luggage did not fit the bill. Eventually we came across Cigna Global Health, a huge American company who specialise in international health insurance for globally mobile individuals (whoo-hoo, that’s us!). They were easy to deal with and unlike many other companies did not require a permanent residential address and there was no age limit - everyone else we spoke to had an age cap and some were as low as 64. They offered us worldwide cover (excluding USA), International Evacuation and Crisis Assistance, Vision, Dental and Well-Being as well as covering any expenses incurred due to Covid, something that will surely be required as we continue to live with this virus. The final quote came to $7,800 per annum which definitely justified all the late night international phone calls.

The car proved to be a bit more tricky. Firstly, we needed to look at any cover from two aspects, local/third party liability and vehicle loss and/or damage. Whilst some countries do not require vehicle owners to have third party insurance, others will only recognise policies that have been issued by their own country. As such it should be pretty easy to obtain on entry and so we decided not to worry about this for the time being.

Insurance against vehicle loss and/or damage poses the question of whether we want it or not and also whether we could find an insurer to offer a global policy. Unable to find any cover from an Australian insurer, we made many calls to UK and USA, eventually finding just one company which were prepared to offer us the policy we were looking for - Clements Worldwide Insurance, who have offices in USA, UK and Dubai. We decided on a value for Bob which covered the initial purchase price but not the additional kit-out costs (AU$55,000) and took out a policy costing $1,900 which included a $1000 excess. It is worth mentioning that regardless of when the policy is taken out this insurance will not cover Bob for any mishaps during shipping. Cover for this can be purchased via the shipping agent but is expensive. I suspect that once we are on the road and a bit more laid back about such issues we will not renew after the initial 12 months but it does give us a bit of security starting out on our journey.

Carnet de Passages en Douane

We have been on the road now for nearly 6 months and during that time we have been asked many times about the process of taking your own vehicle out of the country with the intention of driving it around the world. Frustratingly, each country has its own set of criteria which does necessitate a bit of forward planning to ensure compliance and, hopefully, a speedy and uneventful border crossing. Many countries are happy to issue a temporary import permit which can be paid for and issued at the border but there are a number of countries that require a Carnet de Passage.

The word Carnet comes from the French meaning notebook - it is a passport for a motor vehicle which is stamped on entry and exit of each country that requires this documentation. The Carnet allows visitors to temporarily import vehicles for a limited period of time, negating the need to pay Customs and Excise duties and acts as a guarantee that should the vehicle not exit any country within the Carnet time frame, import duties will be paid.

In Australia, the Carnet is issued by the Australian Automobile Association upon completion of quite a lengthy application form accompanied by a copy of the vehicle registration document, driving license, passport, club membership (note to self, join the AAA), evaluation of vehicle from reputable dealer (not sure why this is required as the cost of the Carnet is the same regardless of vehicle valuation), written itinerary of proposed route and a list of spare parts/tools and their value. There is no facility to apply online, everything has to be photocopied and posted and the cost of the application is $820 plus an additional $100 for the insurance premium which indemnifies AAA against any customs claim due to non-exportation of the vehicle. There is also a refundable bond of $500 which is returned once a fully discharged Carnet is handed back to the AAA. All in all, a cost of $1,420 which seems quite a lot but does include postage of the Carnet within Australia. The Carnet is valid for 12 months and can be extended for a further 12 months provided application is made before expiry. During this time the vehicle must remain registered in Australia. As we don’t intend to return to Australia I’m not quite sure what happens longer term, my guess is that we keep renewing the current registration until such time that we permanently import the vehicle to another country.

As we plan to ship into Timor-Leste and then drive into Indonesia we have ascertained that both of these countries require us to have a Carnet and in anticipation of leaving Australia as soon as possible we sent off our application. By the time we gathered together all the requested documentation it was quite a bulky package that was dispatched to the AAA in Canberra. We were anticipating a tardy response given the current climate and logistical difficulties but were pleasantly surprised when the Carnet was issued pretty much straight away, no further information required - all very straight forward.

Passports

As we are now Australian Citizens we have both British and Australian Passports which, you would think, enables us to tick this particular box with alarming speed. But, oh no! What if we start to run out of pages and don’t have an address to have a new Passport forwarded to us? How about if we don’t have 6 months before the Passports expire and are unable to apply for a particular visa? What if we lose one? What happens if we have to leave one with a Consulate for whatever reason and we don’t get it back?!! Please bear in mind that I am writing this whilst Covid still has South Australian borders closed, Bob is still in NSW and I do have some time on my hands. Anyway, I have the answer…..

What we obviously need is a second British Passport with extra pages. Although not something that the UK Government shouts about, the issue of a second UK Passport is possible. As well as the usual form filling in, ID confirmation and photos, an accompanying letter, stating the requirements necessitating this precious commodity, is also requested. A bit of Googling suggested that the best approach would be to apply under the pretext of frequent forthcoming business trips and so that is what we did. We put together a pack containing both of our British passports, required documentation, photos and requested fees and sent it off to Her Majesty’s Passport Office in London. We received confirmation of delivery a couple of weeks later and were informed that both passports had been sent to the Southport office to be processed. Looking good we think. And then we waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually, after about 3 months, Ian was contacted by the Passport Office and advised that the photo that he had submitted was too old?? How do they know this stuff, the photo was taken about 18 months ago? Anyway, Ian mailed a couple of recent photos and we again waited. Another 6 weeks passed when a courier turned up at home and handed over two large brown envelopes. Excellent, success. You can imagine our (well, not Ian so much) disappointment to find that Ian’s original passport and documentation was in one envelope and his brand new, super thick second passport in the second envelope. So where was mine?

Trying to get hold of anyone at the Passport Office is not dissimilar to dealing with Telstra with the added difficulty of the time difference. Many phone calls were made and we did get to speak to someone who confirmed that both passports had been in the system but could not explain why one had been processed and not the other. We were passed from pillar to post until we landed on the International desk. Here it was explained that a second passport would not be issued for me (still not sure why) and, if that wasn’t disappointing enough, was then told that my passport had been cancelled. Apparently they had been trying to contact me using an incorrect email address and had eventually given up. Great, now what? More phone calls were made until we were able to get a confirmation that a new passport would be issued to replace my cancelled original and the processing fee would be refunded as a gesture of goodwill. Two weeks later, I was back in possession of a brand new British passport (definitely no sign of a requested second passport) and am still waiting for my money to land in the bank account.

Coronavirus & Closed Borders

Our original plan, once the property sold, was to jump in Bob and head for Darwin. The nearest country to Australia is East Timor and under normal circumstances it would be relatively straight-forward to put Bob on a cargo ship (usually taking between 5 and 11 days) and for us and Leroy to fly over to Dili (1 hour). Once reunited with Bob we intended to island hop, using local ferries, around Indonesia until such time as the world started to open up again and we could progress to Malaysia and work our way around South-East Asia and eventually towards Europe. However, Covid has made travel rather more challenging and so we are exploring our own backyard (SA) before heading towards Western Australia and then hopefully up to Darwin.

Leaving Australia now seems to be a multi-facetted process. Firstly we will need to apply to the Federal Government for an exemption to travel. As we no longer own property here, have no gainful employment and do not intend to return, we are assuming that we must surely tick the undesirable box and Australia will be only too pleased to send us on our way. Getting into East Timor however, may prove to be a little more tricky as the country is currently in a state of emergency with limited access through its borders. Under normal circumstances we would be able to get a visa on arrival in Dili but will now have to apply to the Consulate for permission to visit. This application will also need to be accompanied by a letter of invitation from either an individual or company and so not straightforward. The current border situation is due to be reviewed on 1 July and I guess we will just have to keep an eye on developments as they happen.

In anticipation of the borders opening up in the short-term, I have received both Covid vaccinations and Ian is due his second shot middle of July. One thing in our favour if the fact that Timor are suggesting that anyone entering the country fully vaccinated will probably not be required to undergo the 14 day quarantin which is really good news as this could prove quite difficult with Leroy in tow.

In the meantime, as we have seen an embarrassingly small amount of this vast country, we have plenty to explore. After all the organising and planning that has taken place over the last few weeks/months, it will be a relief to finally get going and test out the concept of living in a car. There is no doubt that our conversations over the first couple of weeks will revolve around all the things we have packed that we don’t need and all the things we can’t do without that have been forgotten.

Vaccinations

We were obviously keen to make sure all our vaccinations were up to date before we left the security of our own GP. Boosters for typhoid and Hep. A were required and we also opted to have the rabies course of injections. The first two of these are given 1 week apart with the third due three weeks later. We figured that travelling with Leroy might increase our chances of getting bitted overseas - not by Leroy obviously, but by any intervention required on our part should an altercation occur with a rabid animal. Yes, we are trying to cover all angles.

I have had both astrazeneca jabs and Ian is due to have his second in about 5 weeks time. We are hoping that this will enable us to skip quarantine in many countries and will let you know.

Leroy also had a quick trip to his usual vet where his general vaccinations were renewed. He needed a booster for Kennel Cough (Canigen KC) and also Canine Distemper virus, Canine Adenovirus and Canine Parvovirus (C3 Triennial Duramune) and will now be protected for the next 3 years. Prior to leaving Australia he had a Rabies shot which is a single vaccination that lasts for three years. This is a necessity as we move from country to country as many regulatory authorities will require a titre test to prove there are sufficient anti-bodies in his system before allowing him entry. He also had a Leptospirosis Australis shot followed three weeks later by a booster. Leptospirosis in dogs is a bacterial infection that spreads through the bloodstream. It is picked up from any body of water that may carry urine from infected wildlife and can be a serious, life-threatening disease. Each country that we enter will have different entry requirements for us and Leroy and will need to be dealt with as the need arises.

We also discussed with the vet what would be the best on-going care for long-term travel in a variety of environments and climates. Aside from having his own first aid kit, Leroy will take a Nexguard Spectra tablet once a month which will protect from fleas, ticks, and a variety of worms including heartworm.