Your container lands at Felixstowe, Southampton or London Gateway and then nothing visible happens for a few days. That gap is the import entry, and understanding what is going on in it is what stops people panicking or, worse, paying for a delay they could have avoided.
One vetted mover from our network or their clearing agent files the entry. International movers handle this daily, and good movers will have chased your paperwork weeks earlier. Packing quality matters here too, since an examination against a clean list is quicker. You will not need to attend, but you do need to have given them the right information beforehand.
The single biggest determinant of how this goes is whether your Transfer of Residence reference exists before the ship arrives. Everything else in the relocation is routine.
Discharge. The container comes off the vessel and into the terminal. Your free time starts here, not when you are told the ship has docked.
The import entry. Your mover's clearing agent files a declaration with HMRC. It describes the goods, states their value and claims the relief using your reference. This is where an accurate inventory pays for itself.
Risk assessment. HMRC and Border Force decide whether to release the goods or look at them. Most household shipments release without intervention.
Examination, if selected. Either a scan or a physical inspection. Selection is routine rather than suspicious. A clean itemised inventory makes an examination quick. A vague one makes it slow, because everything has to be matched against a list that does not say much.
Release. The goods are cleared and can be collected from the terminal.
Deconsolidation, for shared loads. If you shipped in shared container space, the box is unpacked at a depot and your consignment separated out. This adds a stage and some days.
Delivery. Your mover collects and delivers to your UK address.
Where it goes wrong is almost always upstream. A missing Transfer of Residence reference, an inventory that does not match the manifest, or goods that do not qualify for the relief being declared as though they do. None of those are fixable at the port, which is why the work happens before the ship sails.
Clearance itself is a handling charge. The costs that hurt are time based, and they begin quietly on a date most people do not have in front of them.
Handling charge only
The normal outcome with a reference in hand.
Quay rent daily
Accrues from the end of free time, not from the query.
Exam fee plus storage
Routine selection. Quick with a clean inventory.
Tell us when your goods are due and whether your relief reference is in hand. Those two together decide how the arrival goes.
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People find this stage more alarming than it deserves, so it is worth describing plainly.
Selection is routine. Containers are chosen for examination as a matter of course. It does not mean anything has been flagged about you or your shipment.
A scan is quick. The container passes through imaging equipment. If nothing looks unusual against the declaration, it releases.
A physical examination is slower. The container is opened and some or all of it is unpacked and checked against the inventory. This is where the quality of your list determines the cost, because an examiner working from a clear itemised list finishes far faster than one working from twelve boxes marked household goods.
You do not attend. Your mover's agent handles it. You will be told it is happening and told when it is finished.
Repacking is not to your standard. Goods examined are repacked by whoever unpacked them. It is not careless but it is not a professional pack either, which is another reason a clean inventory matters: a shorter examination means less handling.
The bill. An examination fee, plus whatever storage has accrued while it happened. If it took two days and you had free time remaining, the storage element may be nil.
On restricted goods into the UK. Offensive weapons, certain foods and plant material, endangered species products and counterfeit goods are all issues at this end as well as the Chinese one. If you bought anything with ivory, exotic hardwood or animal skin in China, raise it before shipping.
The relief application comes first. This page covers what happens once the goods are actually here.
A move usually means moving money too, whether that is a deposit on a Chinese flat or funds coming back the other way. We have helped customers with currency exchange in any currency through trusted partners for many years, and our partners can help with the money side of your move. Mention it on the form and it gets included.
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Your mover or their clearing agent, using your Transfer of Residence reference. You will not need to attend or file anything yourself, but you do need to have given them accurate information and the reference before the vessel arrives.
A few working days with clean paperwork and a relief reference in hand. Longer if there is a query, and longer again if the container is selected for physical examination. The variable is almost always the paperwork rather than the port.
A limited period after the container discharges before quay rent and container demurrage begin. It starts at discharge, not when you are told the ship arrived, and once it expires the charges accrue daily regardless of what caused the delay.
Routine selection rather than suspicion. Containers are chosen as a matter of course. A scan is quick, a physical examination is slower, and how slow depends largely on whether your inventory is itemised enough for an examiner to work from.
No. Your mover's agent handles it and will tell you it is happening and when it has finished. Goods that are examined get repacked by whoever unpacked them, which is another reason a shorter examination is in your interest.
The goods wait. The entry cannot claim the relief without it, so either the container sits accruing charges until the reference arrives, or duty and VAT become payable. This is why the application should be made well before the shipment sails.
Alcohol and tobacco, regardless of relief. Commercial goods too, which is why mixing them into a household shipment causes problems at this end as well as the Chinese one. Declare both separately rather than hoping.
Offensive weapons, certain foods and plant material, endangered species products and counterfeit goods. If you bought anything in China containing ivory, exotic hardwood or animal skin, raise it before shipping rather than discovering it at Felixstowe.
Wooden packaging used for international movement needs the correct treatment marking. A crate without it can be refused, treated at your cost or destroyed. Any professional crate built for export should carry the marking already, but it is worth confirming.
Send your collection address, your Chinese destination, a rough idea of the volume and your date. A vetted mover from our network checks the route, the paperwork and the access, then comes back to you with the price.
Send your move detailsWe match international moving enquiries with vetted moving companies in the AGM Group network, each holding FIDI FAIM certification and BAR Overseas membership.
We are not a removal firm ourselves. We find you the one that suits your route, and you deal with them directly from there.