Door Transportation Services & Overseas

When carrier is asked to perform a service up to the door of the consignee in international transportation, it is not yet very clear in the minds of exporters & importers as to what that expected to include in the services provided by the carrier. Generally their expectation from the carrier are much more than what it should be as per the standards set in INCO terms under DDP / DDU terms.

The individuals who are moving their personal goods first time or those who are the shipper & consignee themselves are mostly found frustrated with carrier's transportation service which supposed to include the door delivery. This is because they are either lacking the knowledge of INCO terms or just had lot more expectations from the carrier, which should have been clarified before confirming the order for service.

INCO terms are based on standard services offered by a common carrier who are transporting commercial goods. When they get involved and extend their service to include services such as customs clearing, duties, storage &/or personal goods & movers job, it is seen that mostly they subcontract these services to Custom Brokers or their agents.

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AIR 7 SEAS (A7S)'s policy against a door service is as follows:

• Our Door Service stated in our Quotation/BL/AWB/Invoice means that the transportation is based on DDU term unless specifically explained otherwise.
• To emphasis the term and our policy, we have explained frequently asked questions below - Our Standard Door service is just transportation to the door to a commercial address which has either a dock or forklift to off load the cargo
• The charges for door transportation is paid at the origin in advance by the seller (shipper)
• Customs Duty, Taxes, any government dues or other associated charges are not included and charged to buyer (consignee) before delivery
• Storage, Demurrage & any Port /Warehouse charges caused due to government formalities or negligence of consignee are charged in advance
• We will not refund the door charges if consignee fails to perform customs/government formalities and goods end up at the port only
• All costs & risks associated with consignee's inability to clear the goods are to the cargo/buyer's (consignee) account
• Any subsequent change in initial order shall only be considered for action once the estimate payment to do so has been paid to us in advance.
• Customs entry requires consignee's (importer) cooperation and prompt response including the necessary documents and sometimes their presence at the port where customs is being cleared. All associated expenses to that effect are to the consignee's account.
• Guaranteed transit time shipments to door relieve us from any liability if the delay is caused due to government, port or consignee's actions.
• Not Customs Cleared by us until Customs Entry Fee is paid to us separately
• If seller orders us to Customs clear, all above conditions will apply except that the Customs Entry fee is paid to us by the shipper.

Personal & Household Goods shipment's door service includes the customs entry fee & the transportation to the residence door during normal business hours and are subject to all the conditions mentioned above. Unpacking, Inside delivery/setup of the goods, Disposal of the packaging material are only included if being paid separately for these services and the service is mentioned in writing on our Bill of Lading (BL)/Air Waybill (AWB)/Invoice. Generally documents required at destination for these shipments are- Packing List, Passport, Valuation & Age of goods and copy of BL/AWB in addition to the local customs forms and mostly customs wish individual's presence at the port. Customs expect that the BL/AWB should have the same full name as shipper & consignee because the goods belong to the same individual. It is shipper's responsibility to advise the carrier (A7S) accordingly otherwise any change requested at a later date will have a fee to be paid in advance to us directly or to our associate overseas