posted
I am a British lady who is moving to Cairo from Qatar (also in the middle east ) this summer and I have been browsing through this web site ( and throughly enjoying it !). I was wondering if anyone can give me answers to the following : ( Debbie ??) Is it true that I will not be allowed to include electricial items in my 20ft container. I have a varied range of electrical things; computer, microwave, stack system etc, collected during almost 20 years of living an expat life, including a huge modern electric organ ( I teach keyboard and organ) which is my main concern. Our shippers at this end are not being very informative and neither is the Egyptian Embassy. I would also like to ship our car over. Has anyone done this ?
We are planning to live in new Maardi and are hoping to come to Cairo for a visit ASAP. I have already spoken to the head at New Cairo British International School where we hope to school our two children and they seem to be OK.
Anyone with any experiences, or thoughts on the above please reply.
[This message has been edited by Jo (edited 05 June 2002).]
posted
I am a freightforwarder/customs broker but unfortunately never deal with personal effects shipments, however, allow me to suggest your calling Messrs.Falcon Freight in Alexandria..speak to Ahmed Abdallah #+2012-3116051 ( cell)he should be able to answer all your queries.
In my opinion, you are allowed to bring in whatever electric appliances you need but you will be charged duties/taxes at port of entry. You could also draw a list of these items and obtain a refund for all duties/taxes paid to customs when you leave egypt..this is usually not a good idea as most of this equipment will be outdated and you would probably not want to take them back with you at that point. Again, you should check with your employer here in Egypt ( or your spouse's employer) they could have some sort of agreement for expats'personal effects with customs.
I also remember now some friends moved from another Arab country to Egypt some time ago, with their car. They used the services of a freightforwarder called "Orient Transport" or "Kuehne&Nagel"
You can find their Egypt telephone number on their web site ( K&N)and talk to Christina ( she's in charge of personal effects and extremely efficient)
In any case, you should always make sure the quote you receive is definite and includes all - all - the charges.. You should also allow a + 5% space for "surprises"
posted
Your employer or your spouses employer is the one that should be able to answer all these questions. If your contract includes the container shipment, they should be able to tell you what is allowed inside and what isn't. If you were coming on a USAID contract from America, you certainly can bring electrical appliances in. I'm not real sure what the proceedure is, but I think they just have to list what is there and they need to remove the appliances in the outgoing shipment when they leave. As for the car? I don't know. Do you have duty free priviledges with your contract? You might have to pay duty on it.
As for New Maadi, try to avoid it if you can. It's a bit remote (Digla and Old Maadi are much better).
posted
this was 2 yrs ago - I doubt if she still reads the board. hey primak- you still around? how's my old flat doing?
Posts: 2182 | Registered: Oct 2002
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