Shipping Help :(

I am having a nightmare.

Left in the UK I have 4 boxes, about suitcase sized, each weighing around 30kg. I want these shipped to me in Malta but I'm having huge problems.

DHL and Fedex quoted me about €700 which seems ridiculous. Another company wouldn't even quote as the minimum they'll send is 2 cubic meters and mine only came to 0.5

Does anyone have any knowledge of shipping a relatively small amount like that?

Hey - usually smaller airline carriers offer this kind of services. You can check the cargo services of a smaller airline that you know about that operate from UK to Malta.
Hope this helps.

Hi Haribo

I'm afraid this response is more an expression of sympathy than an especially good solution!

Yes, I too have got a small quantity of stuff (about 60kg) in the UK.  I checked out shipping costs for an unaccompanied 20kg suitcase with a company called Excess Baggage, who front I think for DHL, and got preposterous figures of €200+, which sound pretty much like your numbers.

My best proposed work-around at the moment is to split the baggage into loads of 20kg, and to fly to the UK and back with Ryanair or Easyjet on days when their flights are cheap, bringing a bag back with me each time.  I have also considered sponsoring a UK friend to make a brief visit to Malta, carrying a bag with them.

It seems a bit silly that it's cheaper to get the stuff yourself rather than send it unaccompanied, but nevertheless it appears to be so.  Of course, if you have other reasons to visit the UK, you could build such baggage trips into your schedule.

Hope that helps a little.  I too will be delighted to hear from anyone who has actually solved this!

Hi Guys

I was looking for a way to bring a few items to malta myself and i found a guy on ebay.he said from south wales to gozo is aroud £2000.

cgi.ebay.co.uk/EUROPEAN-REMOVALS-UK-FRANCE-SPAIN-PETS-MALTA-GOZO-/150547902862?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item230d5ab18e[/url]

Now i know the cost is high but if there is a few of us wanting to bring items to Malta/Gozo we could share the cost.
He has a big lutton van


ITS JUST A THOUGHT!!!

Hope you labeled the boxes as used items.  Customs here is a pain in the *** 

I also need to get a few more items here from Poland so please keep posting when you find a solution, I will look into this a bit more tomorrow as well.

there are no customs duties if shipping from the UK.

Re. costs, try the post. 5 years ago i had sent a suitcase from Belgium which arrived at its destination after a couple of weeks.

funny, last shipment I received from England I paid 18% on...   

Be careful.

Hi,
I receieved a quote last week for some things that I am shipping to Malta. I am moving to Malta at the end of Feb. I am using a company called 1st Move International. They quoted me £1000 for 5 metres squared. (more or less £200 per metre squared but will be costed to exact measurement). That also includes collection from my home addresss 30 miles away. The company is based in Bristol, UK. Whole process takes 3 to 4 weeks (10 days on water). Not sure if they do small collections but they may well do as they are shipping to Malta on a weekly basis?!
They said that they will do the paperwork for customs for me too and that I just have to pay a small fee in Malta. Should I be expecting problems with customs?? Or am I naive in thinking it will be straightforward?!

If you do return to the UK frequently and return to Malta....one solution would be to get flypass with Airmalta as you get 30 kilos allowance.
I am renovating a house and am always bringing things from the UK, between my daughter and myself we always bring out 90 kilos free of charge!  30 each in a case and 15 each in our hand luggage (although I have noticed they do now sometimes check hand luggage weight at check in :(  )....Ive used Jet Services in Malta to bring out sofas , they were good....Good luck

me3512 wrote:

funny, last shipment I received from England I paid 18% on...   

Be careful.


if VAT is already paid in the UK, there is no duty in Malta

I tried 1st Move International but they would only take orders of 2 cubic meters or more :( so as it's a much smaller amount I need to bring (too much for a plane, not enough to ship) I'm having trouble!

I emailed DHL to see if the 600+ quote was correct or whether they were calculated using the wrong service so I will let you know if I get a better answer!

If anyone has experience with shipping over small amounts let me know. I will try Air Malta that sounds quite good... although I don't go back to the UK much and also their flights seem quite expensive but worth a look!

Thanks!

I haven't used them so I'm not recommending them but their quote spreadsheet lists all kinds of small items such as suitcases and excess baggage that they will quote for...

dynamic-freight-shipping.co.uk/excess-baggage.html

...of course their quotes may be too expensive.

Maybe search for "freight forwarding" companies like the one above.

Tim

This looks pretty bloody perfect Tim thank you :) I just hope they don't have a large 'minimum'. But looks like they literally ship suitcases you can't take on the plane so fingers crossed.

I will update the thread once I get a quote!

Well... the service is helpful, they go and pack it all up for you and send it door to door if needs be but the quote was more than I want to pay;

"if your boxes were no more than 100Kgs in weight then we could pack in your residence and send them to the airport in Malta for around £450. IF you wanted them delivered to your new address in Malta it would be around £550"

I think it would be cheaper to fly back and get as much as I can in hand luggage every weekend for the next month or two :)

Thanks for sharing your findings.  I agree that the charges quoted by your provider do hit one rather unpleasantly between the eyes.

As far as I can see (mostly using Ryanair costs) it's hard to fly to the UK and back, bringing a hold bag back with you, for less than about £100, and quite easy to pay more.  So if you needed (say) four or five trips, then the costs might be similar, and paying the carrier to do the work might be less hassle.

It looks like quite a finely balanced judgement.  Good luck with it.

Try this website, I haven't used them before so can't personally recommend them, but they seemed quite cheap when I looked at quotes with them a while back.

senditbycourier.com

If they are good, let me know, I might want to use them myself in future.

Have you contacted our partner ?

https://www.expat.com/en/luggage/europe/malta/

Airmalta is a good way of doing it as I took ALL my scuba Kit (Approx 28 Kilos) In a large Plastic Box (Similar to the ones that you see in New look etc for there deliveries) and it was 15 Euro on the Flight as excess if you book it in advance.

So if you join Flypass....

you get 30 kilos in you luggage, Hand Luggage and another 30 kilos as Sports goods .... (For February and March Sporting goods are FREE !!!!!)

And prices work out at approx £130 per person return

Could be a great way of getting stuff here

Julian
(Not Julien :) )

I just wanted to add a bit about the Air Malta Flypass that has been suggested here...

I believe you have to be considered a 'Permanent Member' before you get the extra weight allowance.  To become a 'Permanent Member' you have to get 10,000 miles from flying with them during a calendar year.   As for getting the miles, the fare you pay determines how many miles you get for the flight.  So just applying for a Flypass number won't get you the extra weight.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong!  I fly Air Malta alot and was very happy to finally get my 'plastic card' showing my permanent status last year.   

Kim