Hows shipping in your country?

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,
I have seen many posts on Simply about shipping with Fedex, airport to airport, airborn. etc. All these are USA shippers.. I am curious how it is in other countries.

How do you all get your fish, is shipping within your country and out easy? Are there QT laws in place ?What does it cost?

Hope to get a glimpse of what its like getting fish elsewhere.


thanks,
al

[Rod]

Hi Al,

Shipping here in Oz is basically fairly easy once you have done it a couple of times although we have a few rules to follow like the correct box it must have live fish approved stamp on the bottom of the styrofom box, the fish bags must be minimum double bagged and the bags must be inside a box liner to prevent water escaping in the case of a leaky fish bag. Definately no mcgiver boxes allowed like i sometimes see used in the US, i asked about cutting holes and taping in a heat pack and a definate no-no :-\ The airlines don't give gaurentees about flight times because passenger luggage and freight take first priority and they have the right to bump cargo. Cost is quite good compared to many prices i see posted here on simply for US freight, generally about $50 to $60 for the 1st box then about $10 to $20 for each box thereafter. (US dollars conversion multiply by .72) For remote locations the cost can double or even more.

Exporting from here is pretty easy although i have only shipped to Canada, i use an agent for that and the cost is around $400 ($300 US) for the 1st 45kg (about 100 lbs) irrespective of the number of boxes. It is actually cheaper for me to ship to Canada than it is to Gove in the Northern Territory of Australia where two of Simply's members live. The trip takes over a day and a half however so the packing has to be 1st class.

Now shipping to OZ is a different matter, we have the most stringent Q laws in the world. Not only do we have to Q our fish is a government approved installation, all documents and procedures have to be met. We have our own special health cert that has to be signed in the country of origin and we are only allowed to import from countries that have australian approval. Things like even a small stem of plant material in a fish bag can mean destroying the entire contents of the bag. Because of all this, shipping into Oz costs a lot of money and is not for the faint hearted. The documentation and Q procedures alone can cost more than the freight, so generally our imported discus are very expensive.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Rod,

Thats a great description of Shipping in your area. :)

How about else where?Singapore?Europe? How do all get your fish?

-al