Shipping a Container to GB: My Hell Diary 2017

Sorting through my files, I found the "Journal" that I had written at the time relating the adventures of sending my 20-foot container containing my student furniture and some of the old stuffs from the family house.

For the context, in May 2017 I am 6 months pregnant, my traditional wedding is scheduled for the 25th and we were counting on certain things from the container for the party, it is extremely hot and I am doing the steps accompanied by my mother.

Here is the unretouched story from the time. the PS were added a few days after the end of the case. Have a drink, sit down because by the end of the reading you will be as frustrated as I was at the time.

Obstacle course to get my container out of the Port of Bissau

May – June 2017

Daiana TABORDA GOMES

Monday, May 13:

Arrival of the container at the port of Bissau

Tuesday May 14:

Impossible to reach out the private freight forwarder (a cousin of mum) chosen frwhile still in France. Recovery by us of the B/L (1) (Bill of lading: transport contract between the shipper (I/We) and the maritime carrier (SAFMARINE/MAERSK)) at the SAFMARINE agency in Bissau.

Disembarkation to be paid (2): 128.530 F (about €200) paid instead of 175,000 F (about €270) announced by the private forwarding agent who went missing.

Friday May 17:

Choice of a new private freight forwarder who informs us that we are entering the status of immigrants on the return, so it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) who will have to take care of us with a freight forwarder from their service and not a private freight forwarder. This is to benefit from tax exemption.

Monday, May 20:

Meeting with the officials of the MAE, who told us that to benefit from the tax exemption, it is necessary to obtain the "Immigrant card" (3) worth 30.500F (a little less than 50€) accompanied by a letter of request for exemption (4) worth 60.000F (90€) made by a civil servant, Mr F.

At the same time, the freight forwarder, Mr. E., must draw up the formal list of the container's elements.

The same day, Mr. E. also draws up the list of full taxes to be paid (5) based not on the commercial value of the goods (because used household items) but on the price of maritime transport (2,800€ - 1,836,680F).

PS: A small detail that is important, we were never asked for the invoice for these 2800€. After reflection, we could have paid less for all its taxes if we had announced 2000 or 2500€ for maritime transport.

He arrives at a total amount without the exemption of 922.448F (+1400€), then removes the taxes from which we will be exempt to arrive at 389.000F (a little less than 600€).

Included in this sum 180.000F (275€) returning to the MFA that the two men ask us to pay before the start of the process.

PS: We expected the 390,000F to be the total amount of taxes to be paid in the various state services to get our container out. Despite an already too high price (21% of the price of transport), we had planned about this amount for the entire operation.

Tuesday, May 21 :

Bringing supporting documents for the immigrant card and payment of the corresponding 90,500F then payment of the 180.000F corresponding to the taxes levied by the MFA.

Mr. F., in charge of drawing up the immigrant card, did not want to make the card the same day (10-minute work according to his own words), advising us to wait for his colleague's work freight forwarder Mr. E is finished to include everything in the file. Mr. E tells us that the list of objects being long, he will need the day to finish his work. It was agreed that he would call us at the end of the day or the next morning.

PS: After many complaints and reminders (because the secretary has not come to work for weeks), we will only receive receipts for these amounts on June 12 (6)! But they are backdated to May 21…

Wednesday 22 May :

No news from Mr. E. at 12 noon, so we moved to find out the reason for the delay. We met Mr. F. who told us that his work and that of his colleague would not be done because the customs are on strike. We insist by specifying that the two services have nothing to do with each other and that the MFA having been paid for a given service, we are entitled to claim that the part of the work concerning them is carried out as agreed. A first argument ensues, at Imperio's square, where Mr. F. announces to us that the MFA was on strike from the beginning and that he was doing us a favor by taking our file but that since we are too demanding, from now on he refuse to do the job!

We therefore called for help from a friend of a friend, also an MFA official, Mrs. B in order to unblock the tense situation. She asks us to show up the next morning in order to get out of this impasse.

Thursday, May 23:

Back to the MFA at 8.30 a.m., where Mr. F, in front of all his colleagues, gets annoyed by violently reiterating that he will not make the card requested, even if it only takes 10 minutes to make, that we will wait for Friday, official working day to recover it. Being at fault in front of a witness, his boss, Mr. X, will ask him to do his job the same day.

At the same time, the freight forwarder Mr. E remained unreachable regarding the progress of the formalization of the list of container objects, to be completed since Tuesday. Mr. X therefore called him to order so that he also finished his part of the work.

After several hours of waiting, Mr. E. ended up finishing his work and again disappearing without warning, with the undisguised aim of making us wait in vain and therefore wasting our time.

It was therefore necessary to involve the DG of the communities Mr. M. so that a replacement, Mr. D., accompanies us to Customs for the next step.

Friday May 24:

11th day after arrival of the container, last deadline for retrieval of the container free of charge. All the players give us confidence in the release of the container the same day.

Unfortunately, that was without counting the heavy bureaucracy inside the customs services. We therefore waited all day to be told at 3:30 p.m. that the director of technical services was no longer present to sign the file. The procedure was therefore postponed to Monday. We therefore lost all hope of recovering the foodstuffs to be used at my wedding, scheduled for the next day.

Monday, May 27:

The Director of Technical Services of the Customs, Mr. Y refuses to sign the file because the declaration of change of residence does not comply with what customs require. We explain to him that we were not aware of the subtleties he is asking for (NB: the list of effects should have been validated and stamped by the town hall in France), because we have gathered the necessary documents according to the information given by the Embassy of GB in France as well as the Town Hall of residence in Saint-Denis, i.e. a list of effects (7) and a simple sworn statement from the Town Hall (8). Despite our explanations, Mr. Y reacted violently by refusing the dialogue, apparently annoyed that the forwarding agents of the MFA do not know how to correctly filter the necessary documents before sending them to customs. It was necessary to involve his colleague DAF customs Mr. H, close to our family, so that he excuses us from the lack of information from the Embassy and the Town Hall in France.

After a whole day of waiting, the file can leave customs for the first time. The freight forwarder Mr. E. tells us that all that remains is to make a copy of my tax contributor card (9) which I do not have on me (NB: card never mentioned before this moment), then go print the order from the MFA and return to Customs to pay the remaining taxes.

PS: It is important to underline that by chance I had already taken the process of obtaining the Tax Contributor card for another case. We would have lost an extra day if not more, given the civil service strike, if the map had to be made at that time. We are also wondering if all immigrants have this contributor card, since it was requested at the last minute!

Tuesday, May 28:

The freight forwarder Mr. E. could not be found in the morning to come and collect the file from Customs and continue the procedure. It was necessary to recall his superiors, Mrs. D and M, in order to have a replacement moved. The freight forwarder replacing Mr Z, tells us that it is not a simple print as expressed the day before but an entry into a computer system and that in any case, the next step of payment of taxes to customs is impossible because the cashier are closed due to the strike. He goes so far as to show us two closed doors supposed to represent the cashiers.

PS: Again, the agents of the MAE show us that they do not wish to do their part of the work under the pretext of a strike which does not even concern their service. Knowing that as long as their part is not done, the other institutions will not be able to advance the procedure.

We therefore become suspicious and we return to the MAE to follow this case of computer introduction more closely. Mr. E. reappeared, told us that the introduction could not be made because of the customs strike which governs the computer system and that we had to wait until Friday, the normal working day. We then ask him how does he know if the system is operational or not since we did not see any computer in the offices of the MFA. After a stormy conversation, he admits that the introduction is not made at the MFA but in an office in Bissau Velho.

We therefore ask him to go together to this famous office in Bissau Velho or at least give us the address, which he categorically refuses.

We are therefore still blocked by their lack of will.

After phoning a private freight forwarder, we learn that the system in question works well and that the Customs cashier is open. So back to Customs where this information was well confirmed.

Also thanks to our new internal contacts, we managed to get the Customs officials to intervene so that the introduction process could begin. We pass the details on yet another blockage due to the absence of certain customs chiefs which was resolved in less than 5 minutes by a young volunteer civil servant who is moreover smiling. Unseen since the beginning of our journey! At the end of the day, all that remained was to validate the following morning the introduction by Mr E.

Wednesday May 29:

At 11am, we call Mr. E to find out if the introduction is over. He replies that he is working on it but that the list of articles being long it was not necessary for us to call him back so as not to hinder the procedure. He would come back to us as soon as possible.

At 4 p.m., office closing time, we still had no news.

Thursday, May 30:

After a call at 11 a.m., radio silence. We had already lost hope and were waiting for Friday to continue the business.

Friday May 31:

8:30 a.m. in front of customs, we contact Mr. E to tell him that we are waiting for him in order to carry out the next step, namely the payment of taxes. Mr E does not show up and after several hours of waiting and the intervention of customs officials who have followed our file, we find the replacement Mr Z who asks us to be patient so that another stage of signature and validation in customs services is carried out. Luckily we had planned mangoes and cashews to wait…

At 3 p.m. we decide to ask for news. The case is still pending. Concerning the last signatures, Mr. Z himself asks us if we do not know someone in a high position so that he can move the file forward more quickly in the various offices.

In the meantime, out of the 70,083F (approx. €107) in customs taxes (10), 27,817F (approx. €43) must be deposited in the customs bank account (11) as well as, new surprise, 2,000F on the account reported as “ANDOCAD” probably the freight forwarders' cooperative (12). Fortunately, there is a priority service for pregnant women in the banks in order to be able to pass without a long wait (91 people in front of me according to my ticket). Return to customs at 3:40 p.m.

PS: It should be noted that the 27.817F are logically transformed into 27.825F to correspond to the CFA Franc coins but that by giving 28.000F, the bank cashier only returned me 100F… the missing 75 doesn't seem like a change mistake...

Going back to Customs running. With the support of our new friends and the understanding of the cashiers, we manage to pay after closing time the rest of the customs taxes appearing on the liquidation slip (42.266F approx. 64€) (10) and leave the Customs at 4:45 p.m. Mr. Z tells us that we still have to go back to the transport agency in order to obtain the authorization to leave the container! Yippee!

We give it a shot by going to the Safmarine agency, thinking we can be received until 6 p.m. since they close between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.… But the agency closes at 4 p.m.

Monday 3rd june :

So we arrive at 8:40 am at Safmarine. As a blow, the late penalty for not leaving the container within the time limits amounts to 56,000F (approx. 85€) or 8 days at 7,000F (13) . To pay this amount while we are suffering from the strike and the incompetence of so many people is heartbreaking, but unfortunately no mercy from Safmarine.

PS: After calculation and reading with a clear head, we understand that the boat arrived on the 13th but the container was unloaded at the port of Bissau only on the 17th, the date written on our papers received from the hands of Safmarine (14) . It is from this date that the countdown of the tolerance period begins, i.e. 9 calendar days. On May 26, 10th day begins the delay period, i.e. 8 calendar days until June 3.

To get the container out, two choices:

Either we rent the truck from them for 72,000F (approx. €110) without deposit on the container and 5 days to empty it, or we use a private carrier at a lower price and the deposit caution of 500,000F (approx. €765) in CASH or by check and only one day to empty the container.

We therefore announce that we want to rent the Safmarine truck, above all to avoid the deposit. After verification, the company tells us that they have no truck available today. Moreover, if we wait until the next day, we will be forced to pay 7,000F (approx. 11€) of additional late payment penalty without having the assurance of having a truck from them.

So we take out the checkbook for the deposit but the cashier tells us that it is a bank check and not a normal check that they need. Disappointing new breaking news.

We obviously did not have the 500,000F in cash.

In the meantime, we had to go back to customs in order to pass the file through yet another service and then to 2 checkouts at the Port. We were aware that we still had to pay at the port, but yet another blow fell on us when we saw the amount claimed: 196,500F for the APGB (15) + 32,800 for the CNC GB (16), still nearly 230,000F (approx . 350€) to go out without knowing about it beforehand and 2 hours wasted.

We leave there, direction Safmarine but the office is closed for the lunch break.

2:15 p.m. return to Safmarine where we await our turn. We had to beg so that the charitable soul could accept a deposit of €500 equivalent to 327,000F instead of the planned 500,000F.

The exit authorization finally in hand (17), direction the port in order to be able to get the container out, except that we learn, once is not custom, that it is necessary first to make 11 copies of the complete file (286 sheets) at 25F each, i.e. 7,150F (approx. €11) to be paid out of our pocket (18) .

Again, we come across proof of the incompetence of the forwarding agents of the MAE when the port agents prohibit us from advancing the project because the signature of the head of the port command which should have been made before leaving customs is still missing. this morning.

It is now 4 p.m. and the port is about to close.

Thanks to the patience and understanding of the port agents, the file was signed by the Command. The urgency was therefore to find a transport truck. The carrier we had booked in the morning is no longer available because he himself is blocked with another empty container that the port forbids him to unload for lack of time… We are therefore forced to return empty-handed once again. We still meet the port workers, with the uncertainty of being able to finish the journey the next day because it is difficult to know if the agents are working because of the strike but also because of the end of Ramadan.

Tuesday, June 4:

Presentation at the port in the early hours but unfortunately, the Aid having been declared in the night, the machinist as well as other important people in the procedure did not come to work. Another lost day. SafMarine offices are also closed, we hope not to be deducted in penalty for this day.

Wednesday, June 5:

Arrival at the port early, the various services should have resumed work. This was without taking into account the dispute within the Muslim community, some members of which decided that the Aid holiday was not yesterday but today. The machinist had to be reminded to respect the official decree and therefore came to work around noon.

In possession of all the necessary exit authorizations for 2 days, our container is finally loaded on the truck. We begin to share the good news with our loved ones.

New cold shower! The truck at the exit gate of the port is again immobilized, because there is still a tax to pay!

The VAT from which we had been exempted throughout the procedure has nothing to do with the VAT of the service provided by the port. This tax is calculated on the basis of the 196,500F already claimed by an additional service of the same port, as well as the cost of transport by private truck to our house. Fortunately, this transport was provided by a “friend” so we did not declare it. Verdict of the tax (19): 68,000 F (approx. €105).

Even more surprisingly, this tax, calculated in an office at the port, must be paid to the Ministry of Finances (MinFin) somewhere else in Bissau. The various interlocutors, all overwhelmed by so much delay, bureaucracy and still anticipating the time wasted going to the MinFin, negotiate without us a reduction of half of this tax. By accepting this breach of the rules, we would only pay 30,000F from hand to hand at the port but would lose the right to recover an invoice in good and due form. We therefore refuse this form of corruption and ask to pay officially to the MinFin. The civil servant, furious at not receiving his money immediately, therefore refused to let us leave the port until we were going to pay the MinFin. Luckily, our truck being always at the door, he was blocking the passage of other trucks and therefore had to go out the port gate to let his colleagues pass. To save time, we therefore sent the freight forwarder Mr. Z to the MinFin so that we could start and leave the port with the truck.

In the meantime, we had to pay the additional delay penalties to SAFMARINE – MAERSK because the port needs the receipt to get the container out. We paid not one day late (the 5th) but two including the day before bank holiday. (20) Or 14,000F (approx. €22).

We also learn that the inspection of the contents of the container is done at home and not at the port. Confusion in order to know the number of inspectors necessary for the proper conduct of the control. Finally, it is announced 6 inspectors! Surprising for a single 20ft container but it is apparently one inspector per department. There is also a police officer provided. You then understand the lack of confidence even within the civil servants of the state... One more thing, these 7 people must be paid 5,000F each, transport not included ! So here we are paying the taxi for the oldest of them, the others having boarded the back of the container on the truck. The police officer came on his own.

On arrival, 5 people and not 7 were present but they did ask for 35,000F (7 x 5,000F). Obviously, no receipt could be established for this amount.

The container was emptied without incident. The inspectors thought they were doing us a favor by “letting through” a plasma screen not on the list as well as a printer. But we take this opportunity to be very clear that we have nothing to hide in this container. The famous plasma screen seen from afar by the inspectors seated comfortably on the veranda is in reality a flat computer screen, a computer well and truly declared. The printer was also declared in a set of computers and printers from a donation.

Afterword

On June 5, we had sent the forwarding agent to the MinFin so that he could pay the port VAT (68,000F). The offices being already closed (before 4 p.m.!), he returned there on Thursday 6. Arrived on site, the 68,000F were magically transformed into 72,500F (21). We only gave the freight forwarder 68,000F. Calling us to explain the situation, we refuse to pay more than originally announced. It was therefore he who paid the additional 4500F out of his own pocket in order to resolve the situation.

Several issues arise here:

Why this difference of 4,500F between the calculations at the port and those of the MinFin?
On the green receipt (21), several calculation errors:
5000 x 7 = 35,000 and not 70,000F. Have the missing 35,000 been deposited by the cashier of the MinFin General Treasury? Was there an arrangement between the cashier and the freight forwarder?
70,000 + 500 = 70,500 and not 72,500F

A closer look in the "file" given to the freight forwarder, we can see that the handwritten slips of the MinFin (22-23-24) correspond well to the details of the taxes announced at the port (19). But the printed receipts (25-26-27) are increased by 1,500F each, without any explanation! 1,500 x 3 = 4,500F. We find the difference! They charge 750F per sheet??

Amount of total charges:

Sea freight France Guinea-Bissau (€2,800): 1,834,000 XOF
Transport package (rounded up to 1,000 F per day of procedure): 15,000 XOF
Landing of the container (B/L) (2): 128,500 XOF
Immigrant card (3): 30,500 XOF
Exemption request letter (4): 60,000 XOF
Taxes paid to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (5-6): 180,000 XOF
Taxes paid at the customs office (10): 42.242 XOF
Taxes paid on the customs bank account (11): 27.825 XOF
Deposit on the account of ANDOCAD (12): 2,000 XOF
Late Penalty 1 SAFMARINE (13) : 56,000 XOF
Port taxes (15-16): 230,000 XOF
Photocopies (18) : 7.150 XOF
IGV port exit tax (19): 68,000 XOF
Late Penalty 2 SAFMARINE (20) : 14,000 XOF
Transport truck to home (Without Invoice): 60,000 XOF
6 container “unloaders” (Without Invoice): 30,000 XOF
6 Inspectors + 1 police officer (Without Invoice): 35,000 XOF

TOTAL FEES PAID IN BISSAU: 986.217 XOF

(1.506€ - 54% FREIGHT price)

TOTAL FOR 1 CONTAINER OF PERSONAL ITEMS PARIS -> BISSAU:

2,820,217 XOF (4,306 €)

Objects of no commercial value for a compatriot in "Definitive return"!!!

Conclusion :

It is NOT normal to have to pay more taxes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (270,000F) than within Customs itself (70,083F) and almost as much as at the port (298,000F).
The lack of skills and manners of public service agents is deplorable.
It's unbelievable that no one in the process is aware/able to explain the full up-front journey and the money is being asked for as it happens as if it is falling from the sky everyday.
Finally, it is incredible that such a sum should be demanded of a compatriot on his return who comes only with used and personal belongings to furnish his new house, when we know that the minimum monthly wage does not even reach 100 €!

My advice to future “Container Adventurers”:

Negotiate the price of your maritime transport as much as possible.
Before sending the container, check that there is no threat of a civil service strike. LOL!
Plan to send your container outside the cashew season. During this period, the whole country is busy, delays are longer and prices are higher.
Find and read the customs code!
Count Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays in the container recovery period free of charge (9 free calendar days from the unloading of the container at the port of Bissau).
Plan an extra budget for delays
Pray that your container will be at the bottom of the boat and that it will be unloaded as late as possible and thus earn a few free days.
Make friends who know friends who know your family at MFA, Customs, and the Port.
Don't trust anyone. Don't take anything at face value and have your friends' friends verify every bit of information.
Ask (REQUIRE) invoices BEFORE you pay! If refused, or at the slightest blockage, have NO restraint in asking to speak to the superiors of your interlocutors. In the event of disputes later, the chiefs themselves will reproach you for not having come to see them sooner.
Do not plan anything else to do during this time. As competent and close to you as your freight forwarder, be behind him EVERY DAY!
Don't be afraid to ask and ask questions all over again to fully understand the procedure (and discretly record the conversations).
Take pictures of every piece of paper that passes through your hands or those of the freight forwarder. This in order to be able to understand after the fact where all this money has gone. You do not know if you will see this paper again in the file given to you at the end of the course.

Thus ends the story of this terrible experience, by a young Bissau-Guinean born in France, trained, now wanting to give her contribution to the country of her parents. I didn't know the reality of the country and what's more, being more than 6 months pregnant and waiting badly for some stuff for my traditional wedding. I guess you can imagine the state of stress, frustration, disappointment and anger that I have been able to accumulate during all this time.

Luckily, I understand Creole correctly and I was accompanied all along the way by my mother, who never gave up. If I had to face this alone, I would have respected their words, wasted infinitely more time and money in addition to having the feeling of being ripped off at every step.

I am therefore thinking of the next wave of young repatriates, respectful of the word of State agents, ready to come and help the development of their country of origin and who, like me, have neither high-ranking uncles nor aunts, and sometimes do not understand Creole well. They will surely be completely disgusted by so much lack of visibility in the procedures but also by incompetence and dishonesty in ALL the services representing the State on the national territory as outside. This will therefore make them flee and return to their country of birth or to other countries in the sub-region.

I therefore call on the next leaders of this country to think carefully about the organization of State services because a new generation is ready to help this country, but Guinea-Bissau must first be able to help them settle in good condition.

I put myself at the disposal of the next management team, in order to help with the restructuring of this services. After this experience, I consider having a “savvy customer eye” that can be useful.

The blog for those who wish to come (back)!