After weeks and weeks of trying to buy a telescoping whisker pole for my 485 while cruising the Med, I have finally obtained a solution that is relevant to any cruisers in Europe that are trying to buy large items in the USA.
You cannot export from the USA with Fedex, UPS, or DHL if you do not have a export shipping license or established commercial account with any of these shipper.
I tried getting Defender to do it...nope...only small parcels.
Looked at Ocean freight....nope...not enough weight or volume...and 2 months transit time.
Contacted a myriad of freight forwarders and finally chose a company called APX ( Air Parcel Express)
You can get a no obligation quote on line, pay by credit card, arrange customs clearance and local pick up and delivery. They use DHL, and you are basically using their business arangement with DHL to complete your shipment. APX will also consolidate and crtae you cargo if required. The cost is not cheap, but not outrageous either.
The Forespar pole is 190 inches long, weighs 65 lbs, paid $1635 at Defender and will cost $900 to ship. A comparable pole here in Europe from Selden was 2700 Euros or $3900 USD
So in my case, I will email DHL shipping labels to Defender, they will affix them to the cargo, and DHL will pick it up from Defender and ship to JFK to Spain and then by truck to my marina. The cargowil be marked with my vessel name first, and also with " Ship Spares for USA vessel in transit"...this will avoid the duty and VAT that is normally applied to imported items.
Stay tunrd to see how this all works out.
