Basics of Exporting

Air Courier

Items that are sent through an air courier or through an express delivery service are usually personal items. It’s important to note that the items sent through this service need to be in low quantities and low in value. Low quantity would be synonymous with personal quantities and varies on the item that you are sending. Low value means that the value of the cargo is below the countries de minimis. In this case, if customs charges duties and taxes then it is paid by the recipient. When shipments are done via air courier, the rate per kilogram decreases as the chargeable weight of your shipment increases.

Freight Forwarding

Freight forwarding is a logistics service for sending items in bulk commercially. Since the shipment is considered a commercial shipment, the items would need to be export quality in the country of origin and it would need to be commercially compliant to the country of destination. This would entail more documents to be prepared but the option of sending in bulk, whether via air or sea, is done in this process. Shipments done through freight forwarding typically have a cheaper rate per volume but a minimum charge of 1 cubic meter is imposed. Keep in mind that even if the volume of a shipment is large and sending via freight forwarding would have a cheaper rate per KG, the document fees may add up to make the shipment more expensive.