Carramore International Limited

That depends on how long the list is, how well coded it is, whether this is a first order or a repeat order, if you are an existing user and how quickly the products are required – their urgency

Quotations can be turned around in one day, or may take many weeks of interchange to come to a final version of the quotation.

At Carramore there is no difference since we have combined both documents into one. Our document is a quotation setting out the contractual elements, as well as the product details and shipping costs. By also being a proforma invoice it is a preliminary invoice, and so allow some customs processes to be started in advance of shipment - including IDF, and also payment to be processed.

It will always be followed by an invoice/commercial invoice at shipment.

This is the recipient address as it will also appear on the transport documents – Air Waybill or Bill of Lading.

Export and import customs relate to the consignee.

The consignee should usually be the top level institute, so that import customs processes relate to the institute, and that can include the exemption from taxes

Actual delivery of goods can be to another location

The validity date is clearly referenced under the consignee, on the front page of the quotation.

The validity period depends on the products included, and the currency of purchase and sale, eg. if there is a risk due to exchange rate fluctuation the validity period will be shorter

This is the time taken from receipt of a purchase order to shipment by Carramore. This is clearly referenced under the quotation validity date, but is often stated as 3 weeks.

The actual shipment time depends on when in the week the request is received, the product/s themselves, the supplier turn around (if not in stock) In practise the shipment time can be anywhere from one day to many weeks.

The nature of the products:

• Time sensitive
• Short expiry times
• Cold chain
• Subject to regulatory control
• Potentially exempt from taxes and duties

All these issues increase the risk of delay through the use of ill-informed or ill-trained clearing agents

It is best to identify such items by colour coding them, or inserting an additional column for this on your Excel file.

Our system allows us to mark such items as priority in the quotation, which follows right through our system to the order, and to our own purchasing, allowing us to identify and particularly focus on your urgent products.

If the complete list of products is large we may split off the urgent items into a separate quotation, which we will deal with first, in order to improve their turn around.

If the destination of the products is outside the EU then no VAT is charged, wherever the buyer is located.

If the destination is within the EU:

• if the buyer is in the UK we would not charge VAT if we are provided with a VAT exemption certificate; otherwise VAT would be charged at the standard rate
• if the buyer is in the EU but not in the UK then we just need their VAT number and no VAT will be charged

In Incoterms this is FCA

and includes the following elements:

• cost of the product itself
• delivery costs to Carramore
• checking and storage of the product
• packaging for export, including polystyrene boxes with cardboard outers for all cold chain products not being shipped in dry ice
• UN boxes, labelling and tinning, if necessary, for hazardous products, as determined by the SDS
• Dangerous Goods Note, if hazardous
• adherence to regulations regarding airline security at Carramore
• delivery to the airline shed at the airport
• airline handling charges
• insurance, from arrival Carramore to the terms of delivery, at which point risk passes to the consignee or buyer

Product manufactured and bought within the EU is free from customs duty. The EU is one customs zone free from internal tariffs. If we buy product within the EU that has been bought from outside then there are 2 routes:

• the duty will have been paid and the goods are described as in ‘free circulation
• the goods are held in bond – some form of warehouse subject to customs control and duty is not paid, and goods are released to us without duty being paid subject to Carramore exporting them outside of the EU

If we buy product directly from outside the EU there are 2 possibilities:

• if the products is large and is shipped directly, without entering the EU then the issue of duty does not arise
• if the product enters the UK we bring it in under special customs provisions which suspends the duty, and our liability is ended when we demonstrate the export of the same product

Yes, we can supply a number of ethanols, free from excise duty, from our customs approved warehouse.

In some countries (eg.Tanzania) inspection procedures demand that for a contract including insurance, which Carramore contracts do, insurance is separately itemised, and so an insurance line appears on our quotations.

However, the value shown is notional and is actually deducted from the airfreight charges, so the overall cost is unchanged

If dry ice is required for shipping we levy a fixed charge, which varies according to the destination and so journey time. We do this because the additional costs incurred bear no relation to the value of the product/s. The charge is intended to cover the related costs: the dry ice itself (sufficient for the journey all the way to lab and allowing for sublimation on the journey to us and onto the final destination), the delivery cost of the ice, the hazard surcharge imposed by the airline for this hazardous material, and the thermal box in which we ship.

If other orders for the same consignee are shipped at the same time with dry ice products we will not necessarily invoice the full dry ice charge.

If there is no means of exempting your products from import taxes – IDF, duty and/or VAT then these taxes will be charged if our contract includes customs clearance (and delivery).

In most countries and in most institutions there is a means by which tax exemption can be obtained, and in these cases we will assist with or pursue the exemption on your behalf, and the taxes will be not be applicable. Exemption is in all or most cases done on a shipment by shipment basis

Our system holds dimensions, volume, nett and gross weight information for all products, and in addition we hold temperature and hazard information This data is either received along with the rest of the product data from the supplier, or added to our system when the product is first received, or added when the product is first quoted. A report then shows the products line by line and:

• calculates the overall gross weight of each line and of the shipment
• calculates the overall volume of each line and of the shipment
• highlights any hazardous products, including those requiring shipment by cargo aircraft
• highlights any products requiring shipment under dry ice
• highlighting any products subject to a form of licence control or end user certification