Exported!

Over the past month I've been ordering parts and trying to learn what I can about our tiny camper. But until just recently there hasn't been much movement on the other side of the globe. The export broker arranged for shipping and moved the Fargo to port. From there the vehicle just waits for its spot in line to get shipped. The shipping line used by my broker is Hoegh, and depending on what port the vehicle is destined for determines which specific cargo ship it will have to get on.

Exactly what ship our Fargo would get on was a bit murky. If this wasn't our first import maybe we could have predicted it. In the past week I've been able to finally get some more clarity. This is specifically due to receiving the bill of lading from my export broker. Among the information on the BL are these items:

1. The contents of the shipment (our vehicle).
2. Who's shipping it (our auction broker).
3. From where (port of Kawasaki)
4. To where (port of Baltimore).
5. To whom (our home address).
6. The size and weight of the shipment.
7. The departure date (28-Dec)
8. The shipping vessel (Hoegh Africa).

Item 3 I am reasonably certain on, though it conflicts with what I've been saying about it coming from the port of Yokohama. Granted, both are in the Bay of Tokyo. It's not important for me to know but is still interesting either way. There's also mention of Osaka on the BL which further confuses me.

Port of Kawasaki

Tokyo Bay

Item 4, the destination port, is lacking in specificity because there are a handful of places in the Port of Baltimore that the vehicle could be dumped. My import broker (more on that later) has assured me that I'll get clarity on this as the vehicle nears said destination.

Item 7 was nice to finally see. I could finally grasp when the vehicle would leave Japan. Long story short, it did depart on the 28th of December! That means it's currently a few days into its journey down to the Panama Canal and eventually up to the east coast of the US.

Item 8 is a fun piece of information. It's the shipping vessel that the vehicle will travel on. Based on my location and possibly time of year, it found a home on the Hoegh Africa. Hoegh is a Norwegian shipping company that specializes in auto transport. Their carriers are great because they are fully enclosed. This means minimal salty, corroding air will reach the vehicles on board. I know it's still going to get a bit dirty and gross, but it surely beats a vehicle sitting outside on a ship, rusting away for a month! That's not to say there aren't a zillion videos of enclosed ships capsizing or sinking or tossing around their contents...and some of them are Hoegh ships!

Hoegh Africa

One cool part of Hoegh, and just knowing the ship in general is that I can get an at-a-glance update on the status of the ship. There are two websites. One is marinetraffic.com which basically provides GPS coordinates for all shipping traffic. Oddly, and for reasons I don't understand, Hoegh Africa is "out of range". Here's its last location that I could find:

Last known (to me) location

Of course, I assume it hasn't sunk. I'll keep checking back to see if it pops up again. There are plenty of other ships that publish their location when they're in the open ocean. Why this one isn't right now, I have no idea.

Right. So, the BL is indeed not that complicated but it's super critical to have it before the shipment of the vehicle. Not so much because it's needed to ship the vehicle (which is true) but because one needs to file a second piece of paperwork before the vehicle disembarks from the origin port. And that second piece of paperwork, called the ISF (import security filing), requires information contained within the bill of lading.

Allegedly, people can easily get into some hot water if they don't file the ISF before the vehicle disembarks. I hear that it's not the end of the world to file the ISF a few days after the vehicle leaves the origin port but generally this is frowned upon.

I opted, as do many, to solicit the services of an import brokerage company. This is a stateside company which specializes in doing a bunch of paperwork to make US Customs happy with what you're bringing in. That includes the ISF!

The benefit of using an import broker is that you're just not responsible for having to file so many different documents with different entities. An import broker is very much recommended if you're never done this before or even if you do it semi-regularly. There are many ways it can go wrong and the worst thing that can happen is having the CBP quarantine your vehicle and impose fines and fees while to try to figure everything out.

The import broker takes power of attorney (PoA) which means they can act as you for much of the import process. You still have to be on your toes a bit. They need certain pieces of information that aren't communicated in the BL.

For example, it's worthwhile to explain to them what your vehicle actually is. It's not reasonable to assume they are huge car nerds and can decipher what you're buying from the BL. Since our camper was based on a truck chassis, it was important to clarify with them that it should NOT be classed as a truck.

When importing a truck, CBP imposes a 25% duty fee! For most other vehicles it's only 2.5%. Since campers typically "seat" 4 passengers, they are then classifiable as a passenger vehicle. Yes, the Fargo was built on a truck chassis, but it's not a two-seater truck anymore. But again, that's not necessarily clear even from the auction listing which stated "Isuzu Fargo Truck". It doesn't even say "camper" or anything like other campers tend to have on their description.

A stock Isuzu Elf truck. This would get a 25% import duty applied.
But when converted to a typical camper, it should only receive a 2.5% duty! 

With the classification sorted, and all the other BL info transcribed over to the ISF form, my import broker was able to file said ISF. Great!

From there, we enter another phase of waiting. It won't be until Hoegh Africa gets closer to the destination that Hoegh sends an email with confirmation of the arrival date. Per the BL, it's around the 1st of February. But that can easily change by a few days as I understand.

Before that happens, there will be two additional documents to file. One is for the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the other is for the DOT (Department of Transportation). Apparently I play some part in completing them. So I have that to look forward to. But fortunately the import broker will help walk me through it!

Beyond that, I have to organize inland transport. Fortunately I have both done this before with another vehicle purchase (just within the US), and I received a recommendation for an inland transport company that has worked with imported vehicles.

The benefit of the latter is that there's some extra finesse needed on part of the inland transport company when fetching a vehicle from a port. The instructions from the import broker tell me that a visit to a customer service office in the port, and to the CBP office in or near the receiving port is required during pickup of the vehicle. At the last destination, the CBP office, seemingly four things must be on hand:

1. Delivery order (from the import broker)
2. Entry packet (from the import broker)
3. Release paperwork (from the port customer service office)
4. All original documentation provided by the seller (via the auction broker)

I'm a little murky on the specifics of each of those things. Items 1, 2 and 4 will be mailed to me. I can't visit my import broker's office very easily to pick them up otherwise. They're over in Seattle at the Port of Tacoma.

Item 3 is something I also have to rely on the inland transporter to do for me I think. But really I'm not sure about that either.

Item 4 is possibly the export certificate and/or some sort of pink slip. I really don't know actually. When I find out I'll write about it here!

So for now, I have to wait a few weeks until it's time for the next significant round of communication!