Why Choose Sea Freight?

Sea freight may be your preferred choice of transportation if you have lots of heavy packages to send, or several very large items.

How long does it take?

The transit time will vary from destination to destination but obviously sea freight is a much slower service than air freight. Depending on the final destination, most transit times will be between 4 and 12 weeks. 

Once we have booked your shipment onto a vessel, you will receive an email with the relevant shipping details. This will include the name of the vessel, the approximate date of arrival at the destination port, and contact details of the shipping line's agent at the port. These will be your first point of contact in order to retrieve your documentation and begin the process of customs clearing your shipment.

After the vessel has actually left the UK port we will also email you with a copy of your "bill of lading" which is the actual transportation document. To most destinations this copy will be sufficient to present to the local customs officials (along with other required documentation such as inventory, passport etc) in order to obtain your freight. However, some countries still insist on an original bill of lading rather than a copy. In such a case, we will send an original to your preferred address in either the UK or at the destination by courier or mail.

How are the freight charges calculated when shipping by sea freight?

Unlike air freight, it is primarily the volume of your shipment which determines the cost. Sea freight shipments are charged "per cubic metre" therefore we would always need to know the size of the shipment before we can advise the final cost. 

Although we can ship a consignment which consists of several individual packages, we would always advise that it is much safer to palletise them. This means that we would bring your packages to our warehouse and build them onto a strong wooden pallet base before wrapping and strapping them all together to build a single large unit as the pictures on this page show.

Once a pallet has been built we would measure the dimensions of the pallet to determine how many cubic metres you finally have, and therefore the cost.

Whilst it is perfectly ok to use your own boxes, and suitcases etc. they will inevitably leave spaces between them when we build the pallet. As you are charged for all of the space used it is in your interest to try and use packages which will stack together in a tighter fashion, leaving as few empty gaps as possible. To assist you in this purpose, Tudor stock different cartons which are manufactured specifically so that they can be built onto our pallets in the most cost affective method possible, provided you follow the guidelines below.

1. 8 x carton 50 (45 x 45 x 50 cms each) on a pallet = 1 cubic metre.
2. The photographs here show how you can use other Tudor boxes instead of carton 50's if they suit your needs better. For example, 2 x carton 25's takes up the same space as 1 x carton 50. These cartons are ideal for heavier items such as books and files.
3. The target is to ensure that when the pallet has been built it resembles a large cube or block with a flat top side. If you have individual items which protrude from the top of the pallet you are paying for all of the wasted space around it.
4. We charge just £20 for every pallet built.

What am I not allowed to send?

There are extremely strict rules which regulate what you can and cannot send by sea freight. These fall mainly into the following 2 categories.

1. Dangerous goods: Many items which seem harmless to an individual are regarded as "dangerous goods" when being shipped by sea freight. It is against the law to send these items in your packages if they are not declared on the shipper's inventory. If you do have "dangerous goods" to send they must be packed and handled in a specialist manner. Dangerous goods are more expensive to send than general freight.
2. Valuable cargo: We do not accept valuable cargo. This includes cash, traveller's cheques, stamp collections, deeds, tickets, jewellery, watches or similar highly valuable items.
3. Junk / Waste Materials for example scrap metal or used tyres etc.

What documentation is required?

We require the completion of a detailed shipper's inventory for every sea freight shipment. This can be completed online or in person when our driver collects. For some destinations we will also require a copy of the shippers' passport. You will also require either an original or copy of your bill of lading. Check your destination country guide for more details.