International Ocean and Air Freight

Charges and Insurance

Francisco International quotes covers the following
The rate covers all costs from warehouse (container freight station) and/or your home to the port of destination. The additional charges will be destination charges to the consignee, covering the local agent's handling of the container and port fees. There may be local customs clearance, duty and taxes, but in most countries you can clear used personal goods yourself, duty free.

Please check with the customs office of your destination country for information about customs duties and taxes, as it pertains to your individual circumstances.  We highly recommend that you contact the destination’s consulate to get the latest and best information.  For a list of consulates you can click here (Consulate Contact Info)  to find their contact information. 

Francisco International is not responsible nor has any control over customs procedures and/or regulations.

Know other costs ahead of time
For LCL shipments the local shipping agent in your destination country charges between $100 and $150 for handling charges and an additional $1.25 and $2.50 per cubic feet (or $45 - $90 per cubic meter) for the devanning (unloading) of your cargo.

Charges for each destination vary depending on the country

Pay before shipment leaves port

Payments are to be made before sailing. We will email an invoice to you and can pay online with Visa, Mastercard or PayPal.  Any payments not received at time of sailing are subject to storage charges at origin or destination.  Please make sure your invoice is paid in a timely manner.  If your shipment is put on hold at the destination without clearing customs, the consignee could incur heavy fines and your cargo could be confiscated.

INSURANCE

Marine Insurance can (and probably should) be purchased

Marine insurance is available for purchase and will be included on your invoice as an optional item. We can help you decide which insurance is best for you.  The cost is $1.50 per $100 value with a $50 minimum.  For Total Loss Coverage on Less than a Container Load shipments, boxes must be labeled and numbered (i.e. 1 of 12, 2 of 12, 3 of 12, etc.).  Each box must be assigned a value based on its contents so the insurance company can pay based on the value of the missing boxes. 

Make sure to keep a record of the contents of each box with its corresponding value to make any dealings with the insurance company efficient and fair.  DO NOT put value of the box on the box, keep the record separate and provide to us for insurance purposes.

When insuring your goods you should insure for the replacement cost plus the shipping charges and not the actual value. Many people are concerned to insure for a higher amount because they believe that customs will tax them based on the insured amount. This is not true as the insurance that you will get is for total loss of the container not the actual cost of the goods.  So if the container is lost you don’t go through customs at all and the insurance company will pay you the total amount.