Shipping furniture from Morocco to US

[nu7015 0]

My husband and I are starting a Moroccan restaurant. He is in Morocco now getting all of the furnishings. Has anyone shipped large amounts of furniture or household items from MENA? Just wondering what the cheapest way would be to do this. Any ideas?

[Nasturtium 500]

I've never done it, but I know people who have shipped their furniture across the ocean for moving... they used freight on boats.

[Carolyn 1]

I think you'll need to get a "container" which will be shipped from Morocco to the East Coast of the U.S.

If you're talking a lot of furniture, I would check into how much you'll have to pay in customs and how you'll get it from the coast to your home town. Furniture is beautiful and cheap in Morocco, but getting it here is pricey.

Good luck--and BTW, where will the restaurant be?

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

I think you'll need to get a "container" which will be shipped from Morocco to the East Coast of the U.S.

If you're talking a lot of furniture, I would check into how much you'll have to pay in customs and how you'll get it from the coast to your home town. Furniture is beautiful and cheap in Morocco, but getting it here is pricey.

Good luck--and BTW, where will the restaurant be?

yes where? num num num!

[sweet_peach 0]

Ive been in the international shipping industry for the last 10 years.

send me a msg and i will see how i can help vs. what you have already found out.

[morocco4ever 63]

On one of my visits there I found the most incredible vase. I can't even begin to tell you how much I still want that vase. It was about 4 or 5 feet tall. Of course buying it was not an option since I didn't have a way to ship it here.

If you find a relatively unexpensive way you must pass us some secrets. I would love to have some stuff shipped here just for our home.

[nu7015 0]

I think you'll need to get a "container" which will be shipped from Morocco to the East Coast of the U.S.

If you're talking a lot of furniture, I would check into how much you'll have to pay in customs and how you'll get it from the coast to your home town. Furniture is beautiful and cheap in Morocco, but getting it here is pricey.

Good luck--and BTW, where will the restaurant be?

The restaurant will be in the Iowa City, Iowa area.

[nu7015 0]

Ive been in the international shipping industry for the last 10 years.

send me a msg and i will see how i can help vs. what you have already found out.

I just sent you a PM. I knew someone would have the information I needed here!

On one of my visits there I found the most incredible vase. I can't even begin to tell you how much I still want that vase. It was about 4 or 5 feet tall. Of course buying it was not an option since I didn't have a way to ship it here.

If you find a relatively unexpensive way you must pass us some secrets. I would love to have some stuff shipped here just for our home.

Oh I know! There is so much that I want to bring back with me every time I go and I can only shove so much in my suitcases. I will for sure pass along any info about the cheapest way to do this.

[Henia 11]

Hello ...

As everyone has said freight is the only way to go! I can only add that generally for the container cost you in the ballpark range of $3000-$5000 depending on the size! But better to get in touch with a freight line and watch out for theft at the ports!

[sereia 0]

I've never purchased large amounts of furniture...

but I did, however, buy three side tables, a large glass lamp, and a giant vase kind of thing that is about 3'-4' tall. i took them to the post and they were shipped in crates and arrived at our airport about 3-4 weeks later. I had them delivered but you can also go to the airport and pick them up.

But if you're doing an entire restaurant then I don't know but I wish you luck in your upcoming opening!

[jpaula 20]

I've done a lot of research into this and have found a few interetsing bits of info.

Firstly, we have a pretty strong Free Trade Agreement with Morocco which means you should be able to import Morocco-made good free of duty. Make sure they are marked as made in Morocco and that the Commercial Invoice states as much.

There are not great shipping lines from Casa to the US, but the best I have found is here: http://www.cma-cgm.com/ click on "routing finder" and see what options they give you. An agent will be able to give you a price quote. I 20' container (you may need a 40') was running me about 5,000USD to the West Coast (requiring both shipping and then rail across the country). This includes alot of fees (port fees, pick up, etc) in addition to the flat shipping charge.

I think if your husband is there he could ship it without the help of a Moroccan feight forwarder so long as you have a customs broker here who can do the paperwork at this end. Or, if you are really detail oriented and willing to fill out lots of forms you could even do it yourself. But, if you do want a freight forwarder there, here is a list: http://www.freightnet.com/country/c93-Morocco

[Nutty 2]

I think you are better off buying at World Market.

You would have to contact a shipping company in Morroco to find out how much a container would cost. Then you would have to fill out the appropriate customs forms and pay tax on your items shipped.

[nu7015 0]

I've done a lot of research into this and have found a few interetsing bits of info.

Firstly, we have a pretty strong Free Trade Agreement with Morocco which means you should be able to import Morocco-made good free of duty. Make sure they are marked as made in Morocco and that the Commercial Invoice states as much.

There are not great shipping lines from Casa to the US, but the best I have found is here: http://www.cma-cgm.com/ click on "routing finder" and see what options they give you. An agent will be able to give you a price quote. I 20' container (you may need a 40') was running me about 5,000USD to the West Coast (requiring both shipping and then rail across the country). This includes alot of fees (port fees, pick up, etc) in addition to the flat shipping charge.

I think if your husband is there he could ship it without the help of a Moroccan feight forwarder so long as you have a customs broker here who can do the paperwork at this end. Or, if you are really detail oriented and willing to fill out lots of forms you could even do it yourself. But, if you do want a freight forwarder there, here is a list: http://www.freightnet.com/country/c93-Morocco

Wow this is great information! Thanks jpaula. We want to use an American company/broker and not a Moroccan one (yes my husband is there for a few more weeks so we should be able to do this). I'll check out the forms to see if I can do them myself too.

We know it isn't going to be cheap!

Thanks again for passing along all of your research on this!

[jpaula 20]

I would recommend getting a customs broker on this end. They don't charge alot and they could really help you get things through customs and also to be sure that things are correctly marked and invoiced so that you can get them in duty free. Also, the paperwork gets much more complicated when you are shipping a variety of things rather than, say, x units of the same item. Having gone through the immigration process I am sure you are used to the paperwork involved in these kinds of things (same government agency, after all), but documenting a shipment of many different items can be time consuming and easy to mess up. You will have to classify each good according to the HTS (http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/bychapter/index.htm) and this often requires expert assistance. Talk to them now so that they can advise you on what to document in terms of the invoices on the Morocco end and for the Bill of Lading and how to pack things as making sure that is all done well will make things MUCH easier when it comes time to enter through customs here. It is worth calling a few borkers and pricing it out. In general, you may also want to snoop around CBP's website. http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/basic_trade/

Good luck to you!

[Henia 11]

I would recommend getting a customs broker on this end. They don't charge alot and they could really help you get things through customs and also to be sure that things are correctly marked and invoiced so that you can get them in duty free. Also, the paperwork gets much more complicated when you are shipping a variety of things rather than, say, x units of the same item. Having gone through the immigration process I am sure you are used to the paperwork involved in these kinds of things (same government agency, after all), but documenting a shipment of many different items can be time consuming and easy to mess up. You will have to classify each good according to the HTS (http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/bychapter/index.htm) and this often requires expert assistance. Talk to them now so that they can advise you on what to document in terms of the invoices on the Morocco end and for the Bill of Lading and how to pack things as making sure that is all done well will make things MUCH easier when it comes time to enter through customs here. It is worth calling a few borkers and pricing it out. In general, you may also want to snoop around CBP's website. http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/basic_trade/

Good luck to you!

Curious JP, what is the trade agreement in Algeria? Even thou, with all the corruption I doubt the laws would be followed. We were thinking to ship some of my "stuff" here ... but not even sure if it would be worth due to this. Thanks!