Shipping, Airports and Bureaucracy - part 2

I’ve already told the story of the big move so I’ll fast-forward a week.  I had just arrived in Curitiba after a quick trip to São Paulo for work.  We had hired an estate car (or station wagon, for North Americans) which we hoped would be big enough to take our belongings back to Pato Branco.  It was Thursday 17^th December, the day that we had requested delivery of our belongings but there had still been no mention of a delivery or the promised details of the flight one which it would be sent.  I called BraBox to find out what was going on and they told me that the shipment had passed inspection and was ready to ship – their flights from Miami to Curitiba were on Thursdays and Sundays, so they could send the three boxes (phone call: there are FOUR boxes!) on Sunday 20^th with arrival on the Monday.  This was no good for us with me working and Christmas fast approaching so they offered to hold the shipment in their warehouse (at no extra cost) until we were ready in mid-January, giving us time to plan.

We discovered a branch of Localiza in Pato Branco, a Brazilian car hire company, and enquired about hiring a car big enough for our shipment.  Every time we thought about them, the boxes got bigger and bigger in our minds, to the point we reserved an SUV (Renault Duster) but continued to wonder whether there would be enough room.

On Tuesday 5^th January, I requested the shipment to arrive on Monday 11^th and was told it would arrive at 12:04 that day.  I then promptly received an automatic e-mail to tell me that my order has shipped and would arrive on 7^th January.  Cue a quick flurry of e-mails and the shipment was rescheduled for the 11^th, although it would now arrive at 13:33 (I didn’t question it, life’s too short.) 

I was told to contact one of BraBox’s agents at their contact e-mail address for details on how to collect the shipment, but for the first time since my initial contact with the company, they failed to reply.  Eventually, on the day we went to collect our shipment, I sent another request for information and I was called back.  They had called my mother-in-law (as it was her phone number we used for the Brazilian contact) and she told them that we had gone to the airport.  The subtlety that BraBrox didn’t get was that we had left on the 6-hour drive and hotel stay to get to Curitiba airport.  Anyway, she proceeded to read out the address of the airport and told us to go to the airline first to get the papers and then we could collect the box, simple. We don’t need to go to a cargo facility?  You just go to the airline.  Ok…

So we arrived at the airport and went to the airline.  By which I mean we went to the ticketing desk, at least they should know where we should go.  After explaining that we were picking up a shipment that was carried by TAM (we were told LAN, but they’re all one airline, so I’ll just say TAM) from Miami, we were directed to the TAM cargo facility (I knew it!) which was directly behind the Infraero building.  So, back to the car and around the airport only to find there were two Infraero buildings, although one had a red building (TAM colours) behind it which sure enough proved to be the TAM cargo centre.  It was a corrugated metal building, like a small warehouse, we took a number and waited for our turn.

And this is when we were told we were in the wrong place again.  We should go to the big Infraero building, which was the import centre and housed customs and various cargo offices.  At the reception, we were directed to a small room where we could get information about our shipment.  Good news!  It has arrived!  But it won’t be released until approximately 5pm, by which time it would be too late to do all the paperwork, load up the car and drive to Pato Branco, so we checked back into our hotel with plans to come back the next day.  On the bright side, it enabled to see our friend’s band performing in Curitiba, so we were pretty upbeat about the situation.

The next day, ears still ringing from standing by the stage at the gig, we arrived at the airport at about 11am.  This time, we went straight to the import centre and found the TAM office.  We gave them some forms and R$140 ($35) for holding the shipment a day, and they gave us the original air waybill.  We took this to the customs office, but the agent responsible had already gone out for lunch (it was 11:30) and wouldn’t be back until 2pm.  The woman at the desk gave us a form to complete then left the form and waybill on the agent’s desk. 

More red tape...

I had a teleconference for work which passed an hour, and we had a modest lunch of random-junk-food-snacks-we-had-picked-up-on-the-journey (mmm nutritious!) and returned to the customs office at 2pm.  To our relief, 2pm is just the opening time for the afternoon; the agent had stamped, signed and done whatever else was necessary to authorise the forms.  Next we had to go to the payment office to pay the R$35 ($9) fee. 

This should be simple.  We had debit cards, credit cards and plenty cash to cover the fee, but no, it could only be paid at a bank.  Do you have an online banking app on your phone?  You could pay it there?  Umm, we don’t have any accounts in Brazil, let alone an app.  It turned out there was a guy in one of the cargo companies that could make the payment online for us and we could give him the cash.  Ok, done, can we have our things now please?

Now we went to the first office we had visited the day before where we registered our car and my driving licence to bring it into the cargo facility (first on paper, then we had to enter everything into computer – why we couldn’t skip the paper and do it on the computer, I don’t know and didn’t dare to ask.  We were told to take the car to the loading bay in the facility where we would be called by car number plate to receive our goods.

We sat and waited while goods were delivered to other people – mostly packages of varying sizes being collected by a courier – and awaiting our turn.  After a while, everyone else has left and no more packages were appearing.  Growing apprehensive, we waited in the car for news and eventually, at about 2:40pm, a man came over to us.  My wife got out to talk to him and I tried to read the body language: the man was clearly an official with something important to say, my wife was clearly not too happy.  Our boxes had been shipped on a wooden pallet (remember the helpful guy that picked up the boxes?) and it didn’t have a certificate from the department of agriculture and we would have to go back to the bureaucracy centre to sort it out before we could collect our goods.

Of course this left us fuming.  How the hell could a company like BraBox allow a shipment with a wooden pallet that was not declared?  What exactly did they inspect when they inspected our shipment?  Any wood entering Brazil requires a stamp on it to show that it has been treated to avoid bringing insects into the country.  If tests show that the wood contained insects or hadn’t been treated, we would have to pay a fine of R$300 ($75) and wait any extra day until the wood could be treated as we would have to take it away with us.  As I said, we were fuming.

But this is where we had some luck.  The man that came and spoke to my wife came with us to help out.  It turns out that he was the manager of the loading area and it was not his job to help us, but he did so anyway.  As we passed the afternoon filling out forms, giving my wife’s various national ID numbers (CPF, RG, passport, take your pick), taking photocopies, etc, we met several people who all gradually came to hear our story.  One dispatcher told us he was dealing with a similar case and that US shippers had a tendency to just send anything and to hell with the consequences (I don’t know whether he was exaggerating, but he wasn’t happy about it!) and he offered to help in any way he could.  Various other despatchers also offered to help and by the time we left, we had the feeling that the entire building new our story!

Eventually, we had gathered all the documents and paperwork and just needed to wait for the wood to be inspected.  After some time, we were told that that they wanted to inspect the contents as well, to ensure there wasn’t anything else that could be a problem.  They wanted to know the contents of the box and it became apparent that the detailed list I had given to BraBox hadn’t been included in the shipment.  They didn’t even have the copy of the Atestado de Residência that we had sent BraBox.  We were given a visitors pass and taken through a metal detector to witness the boxes being unpacked and checked.  While this was going on, all we could think about was the effort that went into packing the boxes, the small amount of effort required to remove things from the boxes and how the hell they would manage to repack them.  On the bright side, we had moments of relief as we saw items that we thought we had missed being removed: my squash racquets, various books some shoes…

Eventually, the official from the Ministry of Agriculture was satisfied with our shipment and agreed to release it to us.  My wife went with her to complete the paperwork while I remained to watch the boxes being repacked.  Three of the boxes were repacked ok, but the fourth ended up a couple of inches taller with extra cardboard needed to close it.  Finally, the boxes were loaded onto the pallet and taken off to the loading bay while I went to re-register my car and driving licence.

By the time our boxes were finally brought out to the car, it was 5:30 – we had spent almost three hours dealing with bureaucracy over that wooden pallet, all because someone had tried to be helpful in California and BraBox hadn’t done their job in inspecting the cargo.  In addition to this, we had wasted an extra day because we hadn’t been fully informed of all the steps needed to release our shipment.  In the end, it turns out it should have been simpler, if the Atestado de Residência had been sent, as it should have been.

I have some advice for anyone that finds themselves in this situation, specifically anyone moving to Brazil.

1. For Brazilians, as soon as you leave Brazil, ensure that you have something in your name which can be used as proof of residency if you move back to Brazil.  Phone bills, electricity bills etc should suffice.  Otherwise you may end up paying taxes on whatever you bring back.
2.  Unless you have enough possessions to fill a container, don’t bother shipping your belongings, all the bureaucracy and hassle you have to go through means that it isn’t worth it. 
3. If you do ship anything, shop around.  BraBox seemed very good up until the point when the boxes left Miami, after that they seemed to just wash their hands of it.
4. Look carefully at the cost of shipping.  It might work out cheaper (or at least similar) to pay for an extra suitcase instead of shipping a smaller box of clothes
5. If you can’t sell all your furniture, it is worth donating it to the Salvation Army.  As well as being able to do some good, it counts as a tax deductible charitable donation (at least in the US.)  What’s more, they’re bring a truck to your house and cart it all away for you.

Finally, a message for any Brazilians that complain about their country: how the people are corrupt and no one helps each other.  I’ve never understood how such people can have so negative a view of their country.  While the bureaucracy involved in collecting our boxes was stifling and constricting, this was no worse than in any other country – I’ve had to deal with international shipping at work and it is always a minefield, without fail.  The difference here was that people were able and willing to help.  The manager of the loading area didn’t need to help with our paperwork.  The other people from his department didn’t need to help with photocopying, identifying the regulations, finding who we needed to talk to etc.  I’ve been in similar situations elsewhere where nobody helps, “sorry mate, more than my job’s worth.” 

Then there are the dispatchers that heard our story and offered to help if they could. 

Then there are the numerous officials that we had to talk to who were friendly, courteous and helpful – unlike in the US where you are made to feel in the wrong or treated like a criminal if you want to do anything so heinous as to enter the country! 

Then there’s the guy that took our pallet for us.  We were told that we had to take the pallet with us, they couldn’t keep it (though they could break it up for us to make it more manageable.)  This guy had been around the cargo centre most of the day too and had heard our story and offered to take it in his truck.  Not only that, he also took away the packaging when we opened the boxes to shove stuff in the car.

This whole experience was long, confusing and tiring, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse if it hadn’t been for all these people selflessly going out of their way to help us.  If nothing else, this experienced served to reinforce the reasons why I love Brazil.

Shipping, Airports and Bureaucracy - part 1

Back in November, my wife and I were facing the big move to Brazil and had to decide how much of our possessions to take with us and what we would need to sell.  Globo Internacional, the Brazilian TV channel transmitted in North America, was awash with adverts for removal companies specialising in shipping to and from Brazil.  We had decided not to go with sea freight as we did not have enough furniture to fill a container and had heard horror stories where a shipment has been stuck in customs due to problems with another person’s belongings in a shared container, accruing daily charges.  I contacted several of companies to see what they had to offer and settled on BraBox, being about the only one that offered airfreight only options. 

This made part of the decision for us, but still left a lot to decide: how much to ship?  How much to take on the plane?  Should we pay for extra cases on the flight?  How much should we sell?  I wish I could say there is a magic formula, but there isn’t.  After weeks of deliberating, packing, unpacking, re-packing, loading boxes, we ended up with an extra suitcase each to travel with (luckily flights to Brazil still allow two bags at 32Kg each, so we ended up with three each) and three boxes to ship.  Everything else was either sold on Craiglist, donated to the Salvation Army or given away to some mad woman that lived a few doors from us that seemed to want all of our old and useless stuff.

Preparing the shipment was a long and time-consuming task.  Aside from deciding what to ship, it had to be packed efficiently to maximise the space.  On top of this, a detailed list of contents was required with approximate valuations for insurance purposes.  This was easy enough for things like the computer or bread maker, but became a bit more awkward when it came to clothes, bedding, books etc.  Eventually everything was packed in the boxes, the list sent to BraBox and all we had to do was start packing the suitcases.

Packed and ready to go

I’m sure the eagle-eyed read spotted my mistake: foolishly using the word “only.”  We packed, weighed, unpacked, repacked and repeated ad nauseam until we reached the conclusion that we would need either another box or two more suitcases.  So off we went to Home Depot, bought another box and proceeded to fill it with bags, clothes, books, shoes and a pair of squash racquets that had not been used since well before I moved to the US, so easily more than five years gathering dust.  Maybe I’ll find a squash court in Brazil.  Once that was over, the changes had to be communicated to BraBox (who said it was no problem) which led to countless e-mails back and forth explaining at each point of the shipment to explain the complex concept of 3 + 1 = 4.  (Please take a moment to let this high-level thanks sink in.)

While all this was going on, we were trying to obtain an “Atestado de Residência” a certificate to prove that my wife had lived outside of Brazil for the past 12 months at least.  This allows a Brazilian to bring all their personal belongings into Brazil without having to pay tax, if they have lived abroad for at least a year.  Given that Brazilian taxes can be quite high, this was obviously an important document to have and a requirement to use BraBox’s “Fast Moving” service.  For this, we needed to gather documents in my wife’s name that covered the past 12 months, examples being Comcast bill, phone bill etc.  Bank statements did not count for some reason, nor did such official documents as Visas to live in the US, passport stamps and Employment Authorisation Documents.  A housing lease was acceptable, but needed additional documentation.  As my wife’s US visa was depended on my work visa, and I earned more, it had seemed only natural that I would pay the bills in my name, why not?  Even my wife’s mobile phone was in my name, because the company required credit history to start a phone contract, which I had as I had been paying the rent, car and credit card bills.  But no one will tell you that, until you’ve been to the consulate and they’ve told you to come back with more documents.  Luckily they accepted the insurance certificates for the car and apartment, which named both of us.  So I have some important advice to Brazilians moving abroad, whether or not they expect to return to Brazil: make sure you have something in your name, especially if you are not the primary earner.

Due to the delay in getting documents, we were cutting it very fine and we were told to collect the Atestado de Residência on Monday 7^th Dec, two days before our flight and two days after we had booked collection of our shipment.  Fortunately BraBox were flexible and willing to work with us, we scheduled a collection for the afternoon of the 7^th, giving a morning to make the hour and a half drive to San Francisco, get to as close as the front of the queue as possible, wait through whatever delays may present themselves (it’s a consulate after all.  Help people?  Umm, I’ll get back to you on that one) drive back to San Jose continue packing cases and wait for the collection.  In the end, we only spent about 10 minutes in the consulate (not taking back what I said though!) so we had plenty of time.

He meant well...

The truck was very punctual and was driven by the Filipino Forrest Gump.  He was a very nice and friendly guy, but my god could he talk!  He told us how he used to be an engineer when he first left the Philippines to come to the US, then sent for his childhood sweetheart, married her, brought her to the country and bought a house.  He told us about his sons who are doctors and lawyers, how her sent money to his family after the Typhoon that hit the Philippines and how he competed in a poker tournament in Las Vegas and beat the world champion.  There was a lot more too, but I can’t remember the details, my lunch was rapidly cooling down and he was still talking!  When he gave me the paperwork, it immediately caught my eye that there were only 3 boxes scheduled for collection (remember that high-level maths from a few paragraphs back?)  We corrected the form and not for the first time and certainly not the last, I contacted BraBox to point out that there were four boxes, not three.  Later that day, the driver sent me a picture message to show that he has put the boxes together on a pallet and wrapped them securely in plastic.  Nice guy!

With that lot gone, all we had to do was repack (and maybe repack again) the suitcases, load up the car with Salvation Army donations and clean the apartment.  Oops, I used the work “all” again.  If you’ve ever moved house, you probably already know the horrors, and this was no less horrifying.  By the time we were done, we were ready to drop dead.  Or perhaps load up the car, hand in the keys and go to our hotel at San Francisco Airport.

Click here for the exciting conclusion!