Belgium Container Shipping

1. Fcl Container Shipping (Full Container Load) To Belgium
2. Lcl Container Shipping (Less Than Container Load) To Belgium
3. Ocean Freight Transport To Belgium
4. Air Freight Transport To Belgium
5. How Much Does It Cost To Ship To Belgium?
6. Shipping Ports In Belgium
7. Customs Clearance In Belgium
8. Get A Free Price Rate Quote For Shipping To Belgium

Shipping items to Belgium? Whether you’re a business owner or you work with a large company that imports goods or equipment into Belgium, or you’re an individual looking to move your household goods and your car when relocating, A-1 Auto Transport is here to help.

We offer affordable, reputable ocean and air freight shipping to Belgium, and no project is too big or too small. Whether you just have a single small shipment that can be sent with LCL container shipping, or you need to ship multiple full containers to any destination in Belgium, we’re here to help. And with our wide network of logistics providers and customs brokers in the EU, we make it easy for your goods to get where they need to be. Learn more below, or get a free quote from A-1 Auto Transport now.

FCL Container Shipping (Full Container Load) To Belgium

FCL (full container load) container shipping is the most common type of shipping for ocean freight. You’ll pay to rent an entire 20 or 40-foot cargo container, depending on your needs. Then, you’ll fill it up with your items, send it to a nearby port, and have it loaded onto a ship heading to your destination port.

FCL container shipping is, by far, the cheapest way to send large, heavy items internationally. If you have a large enough shipment to fill up an entire cargo container, it’s the simplest and most affordable option.

LCL Container Shipping (Less than Container Load) To Belgium

LCL (Less than Container Load) shipping is a good option if you are looking for an affordable way to ship your freight, but you don’t have enough stuff to fill up an entire cargo container on your own.

The way it works is simple. You and a few other customers can share a single standard cargo container. For example, if you need 30% of the capacity of a 20-foot cargo container, the remaining 70% of the capacity can be sold to other individuals – ensuring the container is full, and reducing your overall cost.

You’ll only pay for the space you use. The cost for LCL shipping is higher per unit of volume compared to FCL shipping – but since you don’t need to pay for the entire cargo unit, it’s cheaper overall if you don’t need as much space.

Ocean Freight Transport To Belgium

Belgium has a few major ocean ports, so ocean freight is definitely a viable and cost-effective option for your shipment. Ocean freight transport is ideal for items that are large, bulky, heavy, and not time-sensitive. Depending on where you’re shipping your items from, though, it may take them up to 20-45 days to arrive at their destination.

Air Freight Transport To Belgium

For small, light, expensive and more time-sensitive items, air freight transport to Belgium may be a good option for you. This type of freight transport is much more expensive than ocean transport, but your items will usually arrive in Belgium within 3-5 days at most – and rush shipping can sometimes be used to send items in just 1-3 days.

If you really need your items by a specific date in the near future, air freight transport to Belgium is a good option. For most other shipping projects, ocean freight transport is much more cost-effective.

How Much Does It Cost To Ship To Belgium?

Wondering how much it will cost you to ship your goods to Belgium? There are a few different factors that you may need to consider when determining your budget for your shipment.

• Storage fees – Depending on how quickly you plan on picking up your items or shipping them to their next destination, you may need to pay storage fees to keep your items in a warehouse or in the port of your choice. We recommend planning ahead to minimize the time that your items spend in storage.
• Air vs. ocean transport – Air transport is always significantly more expensive than ocean transport. If you are only sending light weight items and you are on a tight schedule, air transport is a good option – but for heavier items that do not need to arrive quickly, ocean transport will save you a lot of money.
• Overall weight or volume of items – Items shipped by ocean are usually charged by volume. The more space you take up in a container (LCL) or the more containers you use (FCL) the more you’ll pay.

For air freight, the charges are based on the weight of your items, not volume. The more your shipment weighs, the more it will cost to send to your destination in Belgium.

• Last-mile transport – Unless your destination is in the city where you’ve shipped your items by air or ocean freight, you’ll need to think about the cost of last-mile transport. Trucks can be used to ship your items, or the Belgian and European rail network can be used to ship your goods to their end destination.
• Customs brokerage services – Using a customs brokerage service is usually the fastest and easiest way to clear your shipment through customs – and it’s typically a necessity unless you’re already physically in Belgium. The broker will act as your legal representative, and get your items through customs on your behalf.

How much will it cost in total to ship your items? Good question – the best way to get an answer is by contacting A-1 Auto Transport. We can provide you with a quote, and more details about the factors that may contribute to the cost of shipping your items.

Shipping Ports In Belgium

Belgium’s coast is nestled between the North Sea and the English Channel, and despite having a relatively short coastline, it has a lot of strategically-important and busy shipping ports. Here are a few of the busiest ports in the country.

• Port of Antwerp – Port of Antwerp is Europe’s second-largest seaport, after only the Port of Rotterdam. It handles around 14,200 sea ships per year, as well as more than 57,000 inland barges, handling 123.2 million tons of cargo.
• Port of Ghent – The Port of Ghent, also called the North Sea Port, handles more than 43 million tons of cargo per year, and offers access to inland waterways like the Rhein and Danube, making it a good option for both inland and ocean-going cargo ships.
• Port of Zeebrugge – Located by the city of Bruges, the Port of Zeebrugge handles more than 10,000 ship moorings per year, and processes over 50 million metric tons of cargo per year.
• Port of Ostend – The Port of Ostend is the smallest of Belgium’s seaports. Located west of Bruges, this small port handles about 1,374,000 tons of cargo per year, as well as a number of passenger vessels such as cruise ships.

Customs Clearance In Belgium

For all imports that are over 150 EUR, duties and taxes will be levied by the government of Belgium according to European Union standards.

Imports from the EEA (European Economic Area) are free of charge. The average duty for most imports is around 4.2%, though some products like textiles and food industry products have an average duty of 17.3%. In addition, other duties like excise taxes and energy taxes may be levied upon arrival of your items.

Taxes and duties are not generally levied on household goods for personal use – and cars owned and used for personal use for more than 6 months before entering Belgium can be imported tax-free.

To streamline the process of clearing customs, it’s a good idea to work with a customs broker in Belgium. Customs brokers can assist you in the process of paying all duties, and arranging transport for your items to their destination.

Get a Free Price Rate Quote For Shipping To Belgium

Ready to ship your items to Belgium? Need an experienced shipping company to help you throughout the process? At A-1 Auto Transport, we can handle any shipping job to Belgium. From air freight transport of valuables and time-sensitive items, to handling the logistics of ocean freight transport to Belgium for 20 and 40-foot cargo containers, we do it all.

Whether you operate a business in Belgium and need to import a large amount of freight, or you are moving to the country permanently and need to relocate all of your things and bring your vehicle to Belgium, we can help you find the shipping services that are right for you. So don’t wait. To get started and get a free, no-commitment quote for ocean or air freight container shipping to Belgium, contact A-1 Auto Transport online or give us a call at 1-888-241-3110.